Diary of an E3-Man 5

The following are raw notes taken from E3 2018 Press Conferences. They are a mixture of details and opinions. The idea to post these is to show what it’s like to furiously write down notes in an effort to turn those notes into an article as well as whatever. It also portrays whatever gut feeling towards something was felt as it happened. The first section of notes are things I wrote down after the conference was over; what were the things/thoughts that stuck with me afterwards. The second section of notes cover the more play-by-play of the conference as things were happening what was being jotted down.

Ubisoft - E3 2018

Things That Stood Out After the Show:

• Felt a little like Bethesda from last year, really solid but everything was known quantities

• That Starlink thing probably desperately needed something like Star Fox because it was going to get lost in the shuffle and it’s trying to raise a freshly dead thing with toys to life

• I love Beyond Good and Evil, I am super interested in the sequel and everything they are doing with it but this crowd source development thing really has me split

• I don’t know about Skull and Bones

• Why does Ubisoft go above and beyond to heavily support games but trot out yet another Assassin’s Creed a year after they finally took a longer break to retool the game?

• This was a tight presentation, great transitions between games right amount of talking about and showing content

• Yves and Miyamoto are adorable as hell

• They should start a Sharktank like show but for people pitching Ubi and Nintendo crossovers

Rewatch:

• I love that they show Just Dance every year

• This was a great segment, it started out fun, nobody was talking about Just Dance on stage, the people who are going to buy Just Dance are going to buy it still

• This still comes out on the Wii - The Nintendo Wii - The Nintendo console 2 generations old and isn’t even in HD

• Beyond Good and Evil looks so good, I really just want to know what you do

• Are you still taking photographs in this game, what is it

• Jade and Peyj are in this thing now?

• I wonder what the target date for this thing is, are they aiming for this console generation even?

• Rainbow Six Siege might be the most interesting turn around in games

• Listening to the audience is important but implementing the right things may be even more so, feel like this game and the folks working on it have found that middle ground

• Trials game bit was great and slightly awkward which made it better

• Sure make another Trials, never been too into them, but I hope they can return to the glory of the Evolution / HD days

• Surprised they gave this much time to Trials, but happy they get equal time as the big AAA games on the stage, sends a good message

• I feel real weird and uncomfortable with the messaging The Division 2 is sending, not sure what they are trying to say if anything

• The story in the 1st was bad and mostly non-existent, so it’s best to not over-analyze

• The messages before the 1st game had a similar vibe and it kind of never panned out into anything at all - I hope they can pick the lane they want to be in, either tell a ripped from the headlines fictional tale or lean into the multiplayer zaniness

• I think, I just don’t care, hopefully they can prove it by the time the game is out

• Glad Mario and Rabbids got a strong segment

• Grant Kirkhope is an OG

• I really loved this section and this game I hope the DLC changes enough to make it feel fresh

• Ubisoft giving even time to smaller things and huge new releases is really important and nice to see

• I played the shit out of AC4 and Skull and Bones just isn’t doing anything for me

• Skull and Bones is really just a grab of the ship combat from AC4 down to how the health bar for the ships goes down, crazy

• I wonder if this games delay had anything to do with Sea of Thieves, they must have been tracking that game and responses and were like ohhhh, we need to add some shit, the pure ship combat isn’t gonna hold water

• Elijah Wood’s game Transference looks like something that shows unbelievably well in trailers, but not sold on what the actual game is

• Really love the premise of this thing though

• Starlink trying to revive Toys-to-Life

• This is exactly the thing I would want if I were 10 years old

• As said before, this thing needed something to boost it, Starfox certainly helps

• It’s a shame for the people working on this game that they knew they needed Nintendo characters to make their game more relevant, hopefully they are excited they get to play around with the character and have fun with it

• I love this Ubisoft and Nintendo relationship, it just seems pure and enjoyable

• I always forget For Honor exists, but it’s another case of Ubi continuing support and at least giving people a reason to check back into the game they’ve already spent ‘X’ dollars on

• Crew 2 is up and I can’t imagine a Crew 3 is ever made

• Seemed like the driving in the 1st game never felt great and all the a cou tre mon seemed half baked

• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is a quick turn around from Origins

• Also, WTF is happening story wise here?

• I thought Assassin's Creed: Origins was supposed to be the Origin story but this is hundreds of years before that

• I miss Desmond and apples and all-knowing aliens (except for AC:3, fuck that game)

• Seems like they may be experimenting with some more fundamental changes here - Choosing characters, female protagonist, dialogue options

• I think the Assassin's Creed higher ups studied the hell out of the Witcher 3, implemented much of that in Origins and are trying more things with Odyssey

• Y'all like that 300. Good, does Ubisoft have a product for you

• It seems like with the DLC Origins got, there is probably so much that many didn’t experience, not sure why you’d want to pay $60 a year later for an extremely similar product

• I can’t shake the feeling that this is a shorter, almost side Assassin’s Creed game, not sure why that is as it seems to be expanding on dimensions with dialogue options, etc

• Surprised this was the show ender