Diary of an E3-Man 6

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.

PlayStation - E3 2018

Things That Stood Out After the Show:

• The actual games shown at this show were front to back the best

• But they also showed significant less total things than Microsoft did, so naturally some of those games weren’t going to hit for everyone

• Pretty much all the games shown seemed ultra serious, wasn’t much diversity on the vibe

• The weird tent thing paid off - feel bad for people that attended and probably didn’t know what they were in for having to move around

• This has to be the shortest PlayStation showing at E3, they are usually more than happy to go into overtime, this was a little more than an hour

• Outside of the Justin Roiland thing, I want to play everything shown here, which is a good sign

• The tent thing was a fascinating idea, but they didn’t play the intermission right

• It was strange and disjointed with PlayStation employees asking Shawn Layden questions they know the answers to already

• All of the conferences were a little different, Sony was trying new stuff, Square tried the prepackaged video thing out, Bethesda was like a variety show - I’m glad they are trying new ways to show this stuff

Re-Watch:

• Good for Shawn Layden coming out and acknowledging the clear and evident venue change

• The tent setup is very strange and I think I love it

• Gustavo is a rad musician - a lot of live music things going on this year

• I really loved the payoff on the tent

• Last of Us 2 trailer

• Facial animations for days

• Last of Us trailer is the most impactful thing this year

• Maybe not the best or my favorite trailer, but impactful as hell

• The cut from the barn scene to the utter viscosity of Ellie fighting is terrifying and unforgettable

• Really curious what the geographical path for this game is

• There is so much weight to the fighting here, every encounter is significant and memorable

• Fucking hell

• Again, it seems like they could have better utilized this time between Last of Us and going into the main theater

• I understand if the idea was to have a cooldown after what they just freaking showed though

• Black Ops 3 as stealth PS Plus release was good idea for that intermission section though

• I really like these musical interludes, probably not a popular opinion, but I think they are enjoyable

• Ghosts of Tsushima also got dat weather tech

• The world in this game looks so spectacular

• This seems like an HDR showpiece for PlayStation

• I’m buying what Sucker Punch be selling

• I really, really want to know more about the combat in this game, are they going for a Dark Souls thing, are there going to be one strike kills, is it more of a Arkham fighting thing?

• The opening of that trailer is one of the most instantaneously aweing visual moments

• The one v one battle was cool, really curious how that plays

• No HUD?

• Control trailer - Remedy on PlayStation stage is cool

• That game looks like maybe what they wanted Quantum Break to be, hopefully by ditching the dumb TV stuff it comes together better

• This looks frantic and fun to control

• They put some work into RE2 remake

• The voice work still seems stilted, which is great

• That was a good sales pitch to old fans and new players

• They did it, they are just showing Kingdom Hearts everywhere

• Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer is the new Skyrim

• That gameplay for Death Stranding is confusing

• Are you a mailman?

• Is this a horror game? Is this what they wanted to do with Silent Hills?

• I think the baby is a clone of Norman Reedus that can fast grow back into a new (but the same) playable character, or something? I don’t know

• Getting a bit of an Alien Isolation vibe from this, wonder how many encounters there will be

• Nioh 2 - cool!

• Fast turn around for this, I totally want more of this

• Great opening to the trailer for Spider-Man, showing several iconic villains was needed for long time fans since all they’ve shown so far is Mr. Negative

• I love Spider-Man, but I kind of hope the quips aren’t so hot and heavy in the open world moving around parts of the game

• This seems like Sunset Overdrive meets Arkham which is A-OK with me!

• Good, relatively short gameplay for Spider-Man with a killer ending which is all this needed as it’s out pretty shortly

• This game is gonna sell a lot