E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), the annual conference for all things related to video games, is designed to showcase the future of hardware and software in video games. This year's rather unimpressive conference was held in Los Angeles in early June. It was a bizarre mélange of mediocre hardware and tantalizing titles.
Personally, I hoped this year would herald all three next-generation gaming consoles. However, the lack of a confirmed release date from Nintendo created a ripple effect in that there was nary a whisper as to when we'll see the PS4 or the Xbox 720.
Similar to what was unveiled at last year's E3, Nintendo's hybrid tablet-controller looks promising, with a traditional 10-button controller, a touch screen in the middle and Netflix capabilities. The reason industry experts aren't hailing a sure win for Nintendo is two-fold: the lack of a definitive release date and no word yet on price.
The Wii U is rumoured to be released later this year, in time for the holiday 2012 season. Considering this is only months away, a missing release date at E3 leaves questions about whether Nintendo is ready to begin large-scale production.
Plus, with the move to high definition combined with the addition of an in-controller screen and camera, there is little chance of the Wii U being as fiscally frugal as its predecessor. A sudden surge in price would likely scare much of its fan base away. These concerns should have been assuaged at E3. Sadly, they were not.
Some good news came from the Microsoft presentations when the company revealed that its SmartGlass is being released this holiday season. Moving away from the proprietary tech that has dominated the industry, this application allows your TV and Xbox to be controlled using Blackberry, Android, and iOS devices – an exciting prospect, certainly, but hardly groundbreaking.
Software highlights
As unimpressive as E3's hardware was this year, there were a number of highlights on the software side of things. Here, Sony was the big winner with its lineup of exclusives for the PS3.
Last of Us swept awards, including best console game and best action/adventure game. Players fulfill a promise to a dying friend to protect a 14-year-old orphan from infected humans and other plague survivors in a beautifully sculpted, post-apocalyptic America.
Another PS3 exclusive, God of War: Ascension looks to stay true to the carnage-fueled, visually dynamic mayhem that we are used to seeing from main character Kratos, but with a few new toys.
Finally on Sony's plate, developer Square Enix was looking to the future when it showed off what a next-gen Final Fantasy game could look like – check out the footage at www.agnisphilosophy.com. Leave it to the FF franchise to spearhead the next generation in graphics.
E3 2012 also revealed plenty of great games being released across multiple platforms. At the top of my personal list is Watch Dogs, an open world adventure that blends vividly realistic graphics and underground electronic espionage. I'm also hoping Splinter Cell: Blacklist will return fans to a time when San Fischer rivaled Solid Snake as the best covert-espionage character on console.
Tomb Raider garnered a gathering at E3 with its impressive graphics, rougher tones and survival elements. Let's hope it can resurrect one of the oldest franchises in gaming history. Other series have highly-anticipated lineups, including Assassins Creed III, Halo 4 and Dead Space 3.
Even though we'll need to wait until E3 2013 to have our minds blown on the hardware front, at least we'll have plenty of great titles to keep us busy as we enter what I hope to be the last year of this generation of gaming consoles.
When he's not teaching junior high school, St. Albert Catholic High School alumnus Derek Mitchell can be found attached to a video game console.
