E3 2012 – All of Our Coverage in One, Convenient Location!

Now that E3 is over and we’ve had a chance to catch our breath, I couldn’t help but step back and say to myself, “Damn, for such a small team, we got a lot of coverage. Wouldn’t it be great if it was all available in one place?”. Yes it would, Zach. Yes it would. To that end, I’ve compiled all of our coverage – hands on previews, eyes on previews, interviews, etc – in a list after the break. The hardships we endure for you, our loyal readers!

Hands-On Previews

Hawken – “this little indie-game that could is shaping up to be a very slick looking FPS, and though it is far more arcadey than Mechwarrior, it still retains the weight and feel of mech games before it.”

Crysis 3 – “If there’s one thing the Crysis series does particularly well, it’s the presentation. I demoed the game on PC, presumably running at maximum settings, and it looked pretty fantastic. Great lighting, tons of particle effects, and smartly designed environments combine to create a feast for the eyes.”

Planetside 2 – “Planetside 2 takes every single thing from Planetside, and turns it up to 11.  The graphics, the sounds, the play style, the difficulty, the rewards, the scale…ALL of the features are boosted by orders of magnitude, to include battles between thousands of soldiers across the entire persistent planet”

Defiance – “While it’s not the first MMO to be on Playstation, Xbox, and PC, it’s definitely the first shooter to do so, and by my reckoning, Trion is doing a great job of making a game that will appeal to most audiences.”

Need For Speed: Most Wanted – “Most Wanted is a blazingly fast game. For anyone familiar with Criterion’s past work, this should come as no great surprise. Still, it can not be understated – it is part of their identity as game developers.”

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – “Mario Kart doesn’t have a whole lot of competition for the position of king of kart racing, but Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed looks like it’ll give Nintendo’s flagship racer a run for its money.”

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – “Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is not your average Metal Gear game. Bringing on Platinum Games as the developer, the game eschews stealth entirely in favor of over the top, hack-’n-slash action.”

PlayStation All-Stars – “My caveats aside, this could be a great success for Sony, especially for casual players who don’t concern themselves with things like balance and hitstun.”

Guardians of Middle Earth – “It could be said that the traditional control scheme and style of combat is not suited for a controller, but Warner Bros. and Monolith have defied all odds and developed a MOBA that feels loyal to traditional genre mechanics while making it accessible to console controllers.”

Worms Revolution – “Forget the ill-conceived 3D Worm games – Revolution plays in classic, 2D style, but features fully 3D graphics and real time physics.”

Zone of the Enders HD Collection – “There’s always the fear that with the increased capabilities of newer-gen consoles that the developer may try and tweak the original formula, and thankfully, I couldn’t point out a single difference between the original and the remake aside from the obvious HD textures and native 16:9 support.”

Hitman Absolution – “The way Hitman Absolution has been marketed by Square Enix has been underwhelming at best, and entirely misleading at its worst. Up until very recently, the game appeared to focus entirely on action instead of stealth. Thankfully, that couldn’t be any further from the truth.”

Pikmin 3 – “First and foremost, Pikmin 3 looks fantastic. The amount of detail being packed into the undergrowth serves as a great example of what Wii U is capable of from a graphical standpoint.”

Persona 4 Arena – “What seems apparent, however, is this game is being created with casual fighters and Persona fans in mind.  Since many JRPG fans may never have tried a fighting game, it was important that Aksys create a fighter that was accessible enough for them to pick up and play.”

Rayman Legends – “Right from the start, Rayman Legends somehow manages to surpass its predecessor in terms of sheer beauty. I don’t know what sort of wizardry Michel Ancel has up his French sleeves, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t the prettiest game around, featuring amazingly sharp and colorful hand-drawn artwork, and a whimsical style that you’d need to be truly heartless to not appreciate.”

Dishonored – “Dishonored is definitely unique in a number of ways as well, not the least of which is its steampunk setting, so sorely underused in games.”

Medal of Honor: Warfighter – “Though MoH shares several key mechanics with its close cousin, Battlefield, the small teams nature pushes the the franchise further away from its powerful relative.”

DmC: Devil May Cry – “It’s been too long since there was a hack’n’slash action game worth looking forward to, but between DMC and Metal Gear Rising, 2013 is shaping up to be a good year for fans of the genre. Forget Dante’s new look – he’s as badass as he ever was, and Ninja Theory is doing an admirable job with the game so far.”

Eyes-On Previews

SimCity – “Maxis has built an entirely new and incredibly impressive simulation engine called Glassbox to power the game. It made for one of the most impressive demonstrations I saw at E3”

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 – “For a series that is so slow to change or break from its usual formula, it’s nice to see Treyarch doing something a little different to add variety to the proceedings.”

The Cave – “The Cave tells a story about, well, a Cave. It isn’t just any cave, though – the Cave is a sentient being that has existed for thousands of years. It even speaks to you in a deep, sultry voice.”

The Elder Scrolls Online – “Bethesda and Zenimax set out five years ago to create a truly unique MMO experience that would change the genre. While I’m certainly getting flashbacks to The Old Republic’s announcement, some of these changes really look like they’re pushing the bar to create a great player focuses experience.”

Features

Interview With Planetside 2’s Matt Higby – “What began as a conversation about his favorite part of Planetside 2 became an in-depth discussion about the his own breakthrough into the games industry, Sony’s culture of fostering internal talent, and the importance of involvement from the fan community in game development.”

Sunday Sound-Off: Looking Back on E3 2012 – “This year, E3 was a little… let’s call it “strange.” There was a definite mixed reception to this year’s expo from the gaming community. With that in mind, we asked our writers what their take-away moment from E3 2012 will be – whether it was a game reveal, bewildering moment, or some other stand-out event.”

Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference Reactions – “When the Nintendo 3DS launched last year, it did so with an absolute lack of must-have titles that contributed to the incredibly sluggish performance of the console out of the gate. You would have thought that Nintendo learned their lesson after that crisis: new hardware needs compelling software to be successful.”

Sony’s E3 Press Conference Reactions – “Jack Tretton began his E3 presentation acknowledging the pressure that companies are under this time of year. With thousands of people in the auditorium and even more fans watching from home, Tretton was careful not to slip up this year. Their presentation was cold and calculated. Expectations were met and at the end of the conference there was something for everyone to run to their computer and blog with excitement.”

Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference Reactions – “At the time, the audience had no idea Usher was soon to take the stage, weakly link his apropos performance to Dance Central 3, and gyrate to near-silence. This was all after a man showed us how to browse the internet.”

EA’s E3 Press Conference Reactions – “Where do I start with EA’s E3 conference? The abysmal failure that is Gears of Dead Space 3? Battlefield 3 Premium and the power of greed? Or better yet, I could talk about Star Wars: The Old Republic’s lackluster trailer! I’m tired of being the angry cynic though, so I’ll discuss what actually impressed me!”

Ubisoft’s E3 Press Conference Reactions – “Just when I was whipping my wallet at the screen for Rayman Legends, I had to trot over and pick it up again to throw it once more for ZombiU and Watch Dogs.”

Everything You Need to Know About E3 Press Conferences in 7 Minutes – “A lot of information can come out of just five short press conferences, as Chris found out when he tried to summarize E3 2012 as quickly as possible.”