E3 2015 was the most exciting E3 in recent memory - even besting the Xbox 360 slim giveaway, and the recent console launches. It was exciting because the announcements and high quality of games were surprisingly good.
All of my pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aceattorney/sets/72157654877173056
HoloLens and Halo 5: Guardians
The Xbox booth had tons of demo stations, but the one that had the highest demand was for HoloLens/Halo 5. Oddly enough, in order to play Halo 5, you HAD to test out HoloLens first. There was no separate set of stations just to demo Halo 5.
Since the entire HoloLens/Halo 5 demo took about 30-40 minutes, and there were two rooms servicing 10 people at a time, you can imagine that the wait was excruciating. Adding to the wait were VIPs and media, who got priority in the line. Non VIP/Media people had to show up at the convention center at 8 AM to try to be one of the first people to enter the show floor when the doors opened at 10 AM. If you showed up at the convention center right at 10 AM, you could expect to wait about four hours to get through the line. If you didn't show up by 10 AM, you were gambling on wasting your day waiting in line, only to be told that there wasn't enough time left in the day for you to play the demo.
I asked to be put on a media waitlist on Wednesday morning. I was finally able to check out the demo on Thursday afternoon, on the second to the last demo session. Thankfully, I got to bypass the terrible line.
HoloLens is clearly still in its infancy. The heavy headset didn't fit properly on my face, and it kept slipping down, moving the lenses out of my vision. I had to hold up the front of the headset like a pair of oversized eyeglasses in order to enjoy the experience. And I did enjoy it.
After they put the headset on, you are instructed to walk down a hallway, and you can see a floating arrow/waypoint in mid-air! The hallway was relatively dark, with blue-colored ambient light, simulating a sci-fi environment, so that contributed to the intensity of the image. I followed the waypoint and looked at a station in a second, shorter hallway, where there is a hologram image of something from Halo (I don't quite remember the image), just to serve as a teaser. I then joined four other people in a medium-sized room surrounding a square table. As we each stood on our own side of the table, the center of the table came to life with a map. There was an audio recording playing, telling us our objectives, and the hologram video pointed out the objectives as well.
There were other related hologram images projected, like a Scarab or a ship, and strangely, I don't recall what image it was because I was so focused on trying to retain the memory of what it was like to experience it. We weren't allowed to walk around the table, but I did lean forward, left, and right. I crouched down to change my perspective. And I could look "around" the hologram as my head position changed.
Obviously, the image isn't projected onto the table. The image is only displayed on the lenses in a rectangular field of view. When you move your eyes around that rectangle, you don't see the hologram. However, I didn't find that to be a problem because I was focused on looking at the hologram and turning/moving my head to look around the hologram, not moving my eyes around. The hologram looked like it was projected onto the table.
After the mission objectives were spelled out, an arrow guideline hologram pointed onto the table, where a USB flash drive (modeled after Cortana's chip) awaited removal. More swag yay!
They collected the HoloLens headsets at that point, and then we were moved to another room where the demo stations were.
Halo 5 is fun. Of course it is. It's Halo. I had fun playing it, despite the fact that my team was filled with VIP noobs who have never played an FPS.
Cuphead
I have been anticipating this game ever since it was teased at E3 two years ago. We hadn't seen much from it even leading up to E3 this year, so I was extremely surprised to see it playable on the show floor! The booth was constantly packed.
The game reminds me a lot of Contra, Castle Crashers (the boss levels), and every other side-scrolling shooter. Except that Cuphead is a game that is terrifyingly difficult. The bosses throw everything at you, forcing you to have perfect timing with jumps to avoid their attacks. Thankfully, you have special attacks as well.
I'm not sure what else there is to the game, but certainly part of the charm are the 1930's era cartoon graphics. It's an incredible game to look at. But it's also fun, especially in co-op. Be warned though: co-op makes the bosses 2X as tough to kill.
Xbox One Elite Controller
The Xbox One standard controller sucks compared to the Elite controller. The ring around my left thumbstick on my launch controller has worn down and is scratchy and gross. The Elite has some kind of silky smooth material coating it that is virtually impossible to wear down. Seriously. They tested it and it's virtually impossible to diminish the smoothness.
The paddles are so useful. The mappable buttons, the trigger locks, the grips, the weight, the solid feel, and swappable thumbsticks make the Elite a premium product.
Yes, I think it's worth $150.
Forza 6
The rain is fun. I wish there was more force feedback during hydroplaning, but it's not bad. The racing remains the same. It's as good as ever.
Xbox Pins (a side note)
It was devious of Xbox to give away pins for the first time ever. The pins were beautifully crafted, and there were limited numbers of each available. But it was hell for the workers because thousands of people came to the booth hunting for them and bugging them to the point of getting seriously antagonistic about it. I felt bad for the booth workers.
But I love the pins! I didn't get all of them, unfortunately.
More in following posts.
All of my pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aceattorney/sets/72157654877173056
HoloLens and Halo 5: Guardians
The Xbox booth had tons of demo stations, but the one that had the highest demand was for HoloLens/Halo 5. Oddly enough, in order to play Halo 5, you HAD to test out HoloLens first. There was no separate set of stations just to demo Halo 5.
Since the entire HoloLens/Halo 5 demo took about 30-40 minutes, and there were two rooms servicing 10 people at a time, you can imagine that the wait was excruciating. Adding to the wait were VIPs and media, who got priority in the line. Non VIP/Media people had to show up at the convention center at 8 AM to try to be one of the first people to enter the show floor when the doors opened at 10 AM. If you showed up at the convention center right at 10 AM, you could expect to wait about four hours to get through the line. If you didn't show up by 10 AM, you were gambling on wasting your day waiting in line, only to be told that there wasn't enough time left in the day for you to play the demo.
I asked to be put on a media waitlist on Wednesday morning. I was finally able to check out the demo on Thursday afternoon, on the second to the last demo session. Thankfully, I got to bypass the terrible line.
HoloLens is clearly still in its infancy. The heavy headset didn't fit properly on my face, and it kept slipping down, moving the lenses out of my vision. I had to hold up the front of the headset like a pair of oversized eyeglasses in order to enjoy the experience. And I did enjoy it.
After they put the headset on, you are instructed to walk down a hallway, and you can see a floating arrow/waypoint in mid-air! The hallway was relatively dark, with blue-colored ambient light, simulating a sci-fi environment, so that contributed to the intensity of the image. I followed the waypoint and looked at a station in a second, shorter hallway, where there is a hologram image of something from Halo (I don't quite remember the image), just to serve as a teaser. I then joined four other people in a medium-sized room surrounding a square table. As we each stood on our own side of the table, the center of the table came to life with a map. There was an audio recording playing, telling us our objectives, and the hologram video pointed out the objectives as well.
There were other related hologram images projected, like a Scarab or a ship, and strangely, I don't recall what image it was because I was so focused on trying to retain the memory of what it was like to experience it. We weren't allowed to walk around the table, but I did lean forward, left, and right. I crouched down to change my perspective. And I could look "around" the hologram as my head position changed.
Obviously, the image isn't projected onto the table. The image is only displayed on the lenses in a rectangular field of view. When you move your eyes around that rectangle, you don't see the hologram. However, I didn't find that to be a problem because I was focused on looking at the hologram and turning/moving my head to look around the hologram, not moving my eyes around. The hologram looked like it was projected onto the table.
After the mission objectives were spelled out, an arrow guideline hologram pointed onto the table, where a USB flash drive (modeled after Cortana's chip) awaited removal. More swag yay!
They collected the HoloLens headsets at that point, and then we were moved to another room where the demo stations were.
Halo 5 is fun. Of course it is. It's Halo. I had fun playing it, despite the fact that my team was filled with VIP noobs who have never played an FPS.
Cuphead
I have been anticipating this game ever since it was teased at E3 two years ago. We hadn't seen much from it even leading up to E3 this year, so I was extremely surprised to see it playable on the show floor! The booth was constantly packed.
The game reminds me a lot of Contra, Castle Crashers (the boss levels), and every other side-scrolling shooter. Except that Cuphead is a game that is terrifyingly difficult. The bosses throw everything at you, forcing you to have perfect timing with jumps to avoid their attacks. Thankfully, you have special attacks as well.
I'm not sure what else there is to the game, but certainly part of the charm are the 1930's era cartoon graphics. It's an incredible game to look at. But it's also fun, especially in co-op. Be warned though: co-op makes the bosses 2X as tough to kill.
Xbox One Elite Controller
The Xbox One standard controller sucks compared to the Elite controller. The ring around my left thumbstick on my launch controller has worn down and is scratchy and gross. The Elite has some kind of silky smooth material coating it that is virtually impossible to wear down. Seriously. They tested it and it's virtually impossible to diminish the smoothness.
The paddles are so useful. The mappable buttons, the trigger locks, the grips, the weight, the solid feel, and swappable thumbsticks make the Elite a premium product.
Yes, I think it's worth $150.
Forza 6
The rain is fun. I wish there was more force feedback during hydroplaning, but it's not bad. The racing remains the same. It's as good as ever.
Xbox Pins (a side note)
It was devious of Xbox to give away pins for the first time ever. The pins were beautifully crafted, and there were limited numbers of each available. But it was hell for the workers because thousands of people came to the booth hunting for them and bugging them to the point of getting seriously antagonistic about it. I felt bad for the booth workers.
But I love the pins! I didn't get all of them, unfortunately.
More in following posts.
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