E3 2016 Reflections - Day 3

Last week was E3 2016, and it was epic. I know that term has been so overused in our modern day that it has become nearly devoid of any substantial meaning, but I’ve been following E3 news and events for about a decade now and this year’s E3 just might have been the best I’ve ever seen, so epic is a fitting description of it. This year’s lineup of games was simply phenomenal, and even though I’m not interested in all of them, there’s no denying that the sheer number of quality titles we are getting over the next year is an embarrassment or riches for the gaming community.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week I’m going to be giving my own thoughts and observations on this year’s E3. I won’t talk about every game or every announcement, but will instead be focusing on the ones that meant something to me. On Monday I will discuss the EA, Bethesda, and Ubisoft press conferences; on Tuesday I will discuss the Microsoft and Sony press conferences; and on Wednesday I will discuss the showcase from Nintendo, as well as a few miscellaneous items.

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Today is Wednesday, so to finish off the E3 2016 notes here is a brief collection of thoughts on the Nintendo showcase and some other stuff that I didn’t mention in the other two posts. This post will be much smaller than the previous two.

Nintendo

* The big focus this year for Nintendo was the next entry in The Legend of Zelda series, titled The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The only Zelda game I’ve every played to completion was Twilight Princess, so I can’t call myself a fan of the series. For that matter I can’t call myself much of a Nintendo fan either, as the only Nintendo games I really pay attention to are the ones from the Smash Bros and Mario Kart series. The Zelda series is regarded as one of the greatest in all of gaming, and this new Zelda game looks like it might be another strong addition, but I’ll probably never play it because it will be locked away on a console that I’ll likely never purchase.
* Related to the last sentence of the previous bullet-point, the next Nintendo console, currently known as the NX, was not shown in any capacity, just as Nintendo said it wouldn’t. I’m guessing the NX will get its own reveal event sometime later this year, and hopefully Nintendo will do enough to convince myself and others that the NX is worth buying. The Nintendo Wii gave me two or three good years of gaming but then left me unsatisfied for the remainder of its lifecycle, and the Wii U had absolute no appeal to me whatsoever, so I’m not willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt about the NX. Nintendo is going to have to really sell me on this thing.
* Along with Zelda, Nintendo also had a few other things being shown off, such as the next Pokemon games. I played the first five Pokemon games (Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, and Silver) via an emulator on a computer many years ago and I’m impressed that the series is still going. At the same time, I wonder when the creators will run out of ideas for new Pokemon. There used to be only 151. Now it seems like there’s a thousand of them.

Miscellaneous

* Just before E3 began, Injustice 2 was leaked, and shortly afterwards an official trailer was released. Although I’m not a comic book or fighting game enthusiast, I really liked the first Injustice and I hope the new one is just as good. Some new characters such as Supergirl, Atrocitus, and Gorilla Grodd have been revealed, along with returning characters Batman, Superman, Flash and Aqua Man.
* Not surprisingly, there was nothing from Kingdom Hearts 3 at this year’s E3. I’m guessing we won’t see anything substantial on it until next year.
* Another year, another E3. Even though I wasn’t there, at the end of each E3 I feel strangely exhausted from consuming so much video game related content in such a short period. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the media people who actually have to work during E3 and produce all the things I watch or read. Hats off to them.