What Happened At E3 This Year?

So, as everyone in the gaming world is aware, E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) happened earlier this month.  Always an exciting time for us.  Time to see what new gadgets each company has in the works, new game play footage for games we are eagerly awaiting, and breathtaking trailers that will leave us squealing for weeks.  I feel like this year, as a whole, was a tad underwhelming compared to previous expos, but I'm here to touch base on some of the things I'm pretty stoked about anyway.

The first game I would like to touch base on is the one I'm probably most excited about.  From the people who brought us Heavy Rain has given us a new trailer that makes me flail around like an over-excited chihuahua.

You live the life of Jodie Holmes (obviously played by Ellen Page), a young woman who possesses supernatural powers through a psychic link to an invisible entity.  You play her through 15 years of her life, from angsty teenager to vibrant young woman, all with that entity, a violent killer, attached to her very being.  The game is about death, separation, and mourning.  It addresses the "other side".  It's an understatement when I tell you I cannot wait for this game.

Next up on the docket is the new Tomb Raider game.  I've been reading up on it for a while, and with this new trailer, I'm so ready.

As you can see, this new game has an entirely different feel to it than any of the previous games we know so well.  This game is a total reboot, this Lara Croft is brand new.  This is reconstructing her origin, setting up new story lines, a new world.  It will have no attachments to any of the previous games.  They are also bringing in more survival horror elements, making the entire package of Tomb Raider one I will eagerly get my hands on in 2013.

Now, I've never been huge into the whole Hitman franchise.  Mind you, I haven't really exposed myself to anything from it, but it's not caught my attention long enough to delve into it.  I'm not poo-poo-ing over it, of course.  And I have to say... the trailer for Hitman: Absolution is pretty badass.

...Right?!

Naughty Dog, the creators of the phenomenal Uncharted series, has been working to bring us their next project, The Last of Us.  The trailer for this game came out a while ago, and I've been down with it since day 1.  Now, this year, they gave us a little more to sit on until we can bring it home next year.

So here we get to see some of the stuff we are familiar with from Naughty Dog - the game play mechanics and gorgeous graphics.  Other stuff we get to see are the ability to take enemies hostage and putting together your own molotov cocktails (both of which are so awesome!).  It's also nice to see that Ellie takes care of herself and actually helps you out, unlike other games that come to mind... *cough*Resident Evil 4*cough*Ashley*cough* She's a pretty badass little teenager.

Nintendo had a good amount of stuff with the WiiU at the expo this year.  We saw the finalized controller, dubbed the Game Pad.  While we don't have an official release date and price yet, we know it's coming out this holiday season.  They also gave us a look at the kinds of launch titles to expect, and I'm pretty impressed with the variety.

The last one on my list is a game that my husband is a lot more excited about then I am.  This ended up being the best part of E3 for him.  I'm intrigued, and definitely looking forward to when it comes out, but the game play trailer just didn't get my blood pumping near as much as the other ones I've talked about so far.

Reminds me of Deus Ex.  The hacking is pretty cool, and of course it looks gorgeous.  I don't think we'll be seeing this one for a while, but I am looking forward to becoming more familiar with it.

For those of you wondering "Hey now.  Where in the world was The Last Guardian in all of this?" Well...you were not alone.  It only added to the worry we're all feeling since the game's creative lead left Sony, this has been in works since 2008 with barely anything to show for it...all that jazz.  According to SCEA senior VPof product development, Scott Rohde, the game's absence from their press conference shouldn't worry us.  He was quoted saying that "It just wasn't appropriate for us to give an update.  That's just how it worked out."  He went on to say that it was more due to time constraints, rather than the project going stagnant. "There's a vision that must be upheld," he continued. "And until it can be upheld, it's not gonna ship."  So be patient, fellow gamers.  Not all hope is lost yet.  I hope.

And now... I leave you with one final thing.  Epic Games showed off the engine that might power the next generation of consoles and PC games.  So sit back and enjoy the Unreal Engine 4 tech demo in all its' beauty.