In the ashes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, amid the bloat and pretense of the games industry, always must there be a presentation... always must there be game trailers... and always must there be those who commentate. So it is we find ourselves in the aftermath of this year's collected summer showcases, a cavalcade of announcements and information to parse in its wake. For my part, I set forth to once again note the games (and, occasionally, people or moments) that stood out - for good or ill. Today, we tackle that which was displayed at Sony's State of Play, the OTK Games Expo, and the Summer Game Fest... Sony State of Play The High Point: Astro Bot Is it nakedly playing off of lingering nostalgia for various Sony properties, current and forgotten? Yes. Is it unmistakably taking cues from other more successful platformer series? Absolutely. Nevertheless, the team at Sony seem to have nailed the charm when it comes to their robot mascot, which is half the battle for cr...
Ah, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the game industry's yearly tradition of indulgence in lengthy conferences, flashy trailers that might not be representative of the final games, and awkward pauses... lots of awkward pauses. If nothing else, it gives Internet writers like yours truly the opportunity to snark and gape in equal measure, while cherishing those rare moments where something genuinely good happens. I'm going to take a slightly different approach than my peers, though - rather than handing out "Best X" awards to specific games or talking about each conference in turn, we're instead going to celebrate the highs and lows of E3 as a whole ... byyyyyyyyy handing out "Best" and "Worst" awards. Same difference. BEST PRESENTER Winner: Janina Gavankar Electronic Arts' conference was defined in large part by discomfort and lack of effort. If the fixation on EA's new Game Changers program didn't strike you as we...