LHG Roundtable: Glory’s of E3’s Past

To Victory! To Honor! To The Glory of E3!

Disclaimer! *The thoughts and opinions from the LosHarrowGames writers do not represent all of LosHarrow. We are in every way praising the employees, products, or companies. No matter if you have some interest in video games, are new to video games, or a die-hard fan, we are all #GamersUnited. That being said, this may get pretty.

Allan Muir – Managing Editor and Xbox Stalwart

Microsoft’s E3 2017 Press Conference

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To start off the conference we get a “looking back in time” type of video featuring games that appeared on the original Xbox such as Halo: Combat Evolved, Voodoo Vince, MechWarrior, Halo 2, and then we jump to the Xbox 360 with Gears of War, Crackdown, Fallout 3, and we then get a time jump to the year 2013 which was the launch of the Xbox One. The video ends with text saying “It all leads to this”, which is 4K Ultra HD.

Welcome to the resurrection of Xbox my friend.The 2017 Xbox Conference made me lose it in so many ways. There were things like Cuphead, State of Decay 2, and my favorite Assassin’s Creed game in the form of Assassin’s Creed: Origins. But there were other things about the conference that made things worth owning an Xbox One such as reveals of games like Dragon Ball FighterZ, Deep Rock Galactic, and Metro Exodus. 

We would get the reveal of Project Scorpio that would ultimately be named Xbox One X and was the heavy hitter of the three SKU’s of the regular Xbox One and Xbox One S. The X was and is the better of the Switch and PlayStation 4 Pro. I remember watching Giant Bomb Talking Over the conference and Alex Navarro making jokes like “we have the most numbers here at Xbox” which was during the rather dull reveal of the Xbox X’s technical specs. Following this when the Microsoft presenter was talking about how powerful the Xbox One X is Alex randomly said “This console Vapes!” At that point said Microsoft rep revealed that the X would have a Liquid Cooled Vapor Chamber which Giant Bomb certainly had their fun with during the interview segments.

But things only got better from there as a rumor that was floating around rang true in the announcement that Backwards Compatibility would be pushed all the way back to the original Xbox with a select amount of games to be released from time to time. I went ape and bought all the Star Wars games available except for KotOR II: TSL as it isn’t complete. But they released other games like the original Mercenaries, Dead to Rights, Hunter: The Reckoning just to name a few. They wouldn’t have achievements but like most of the back-compat games they would be “Xbox One Enhanced” which meant uprezzing them so they’d be as graphically powerful as possible. As someone who went from a Day One Xbox One to the One S and finally the X I can say that this conference made up for the Donnie Videogames era of Microsoft.

Josh Miller – Staff Writer

PlayStation Conference E3 2015

It earned the nickname “Year of Dreams”. It put Sony conferences on a pedestal like they never were previously. It resurrected old desires and created new ones. The PlayStation conference from E3 2015 stood out as one of the best E3 conferences ever, and here is why.

First off, it started the show by bringing back The Last Guardian. A game in limbo for so many years to finish the trilogy of beloved and classic Team Ico games finally had footage and a release date given. At the time, it was unsure how the quality would turn out with all those years under its belt (everything turned out ok!), but to see it again was a great way to start the conference.

They followed up that announcement with two new games, both being some of the best this generation had to offer, and one being exclusive: Hitman and Horizon: Zero Dawn. The latter was especially noteworthy being a new franchise from Killzone dev Guerrilla Games and started a discussion in the industry about letting devs stuck on series creating something new.

While many other things were shown, the showstoppers came in the one-two punch of two games. The first was one of the most requested games of all time in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Fans were skeptical in the opening moments after being teased for so many years, but by the end…it was real. It was at this point that the conference took legendary status before getting the news of Shenmue 3, another game widely requested by fans for years. The latter was less impact due to it being the announcement of a Kickstarter, but the fact it was there still meant something for many.

That conference was something to behold. The excitement coming not only from the crew at PlayStation along with the energy from the fans in the room made it special. Nothing has usurped that conference for many since then, but it’ll be fun when something finally does.

Graydon Webb – Staff Writer

Ubisoft E3 2012 Press Conference

Without a doubt my favorite E3 conference had to be Ubisoft-related. I’m such a massive fan of their games and I have been for my entire gaming lifespan. Looking back on past E3’s, no press conference has grabbed a hold of me and refused to let go with the same fervor as Ubisoft in 2012.

Kicking off with a performance by Flo Rida promoting Just Dance 4 (arguably the best in the franchise), we knew Ubisoft wasn’t fucking around here. Things quickly transitioned into the huge reveal of Far Cry 3, and from that moment on, the world of gaming changed forever.

Far Cry 3 is heralded as the best game in the series by most fans, and it has gone down in history as one of the greatest games of all time. Its vibrant world and memorable antagonist added an enticing charm to an already engaging video game. The previous combat and exploration systems were overhauled, and Far Cry 3 easily captured the hearts of gamers everywhere in 2012.

Moving on, Rayman Legends was revealed with Wii U gameplay (which, believe it or not, was pretty exciting at the time), alongside ZombiU, a port of Assassin’s Creed III, and a few exercise games for the Wii U as well. All this culminated in a 6-minute long gameplay demo of Assassin’s Creed III, and I can recall every second clear as day. From the new traversal methods among the trees to the new assassination methods among the muskets, AC3 was a major part of my gaming life and I’ll never forget this reveal.

Of course, the final moments of Ubisoft’s 2012 conference were spent with something much different than any other game I’d seen before it: Watch Dogs. This game took stealth and technology to a whole new level, introducing the world to Aiden Pearce and his range of weaponry thanks to Chicago’s ominous global operating system.

While the demo showed off some ambitious things that didn’t quite make it to the finished product (from the focus on online multiplayer to the soon-to-be downgraded graphics), it still left an impact on me and many other Ubisoft fans. Watch Dogs went on to become a flagship franchise, pushing the boundaries of today’s video game scene, and reportedly delivering another installment at this upcoming week’s show. Here’s hoping Ubisoft can knock it out of the park once again!