Ubisoft's E3 Press Conference Recap and Review

Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with me throughout E3 today! Ubisoft's press conference is just about ready to commence! If you missed the recaps earlier today, you can read all about Microsoft and EA's conferences by clicking on their names. For the second year in a row Aisha Tyler is hosting Ubi's conference, a job she exceeds at. Anyways, read the recap of the entire conference after the jump!

Ubisoft started their show off with a bang by bringing out Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains to play a song and introduce the first game reveal, Rocksmith 2014. He did this by first playing his guitar alone, and then using a band from Rocksmith to aid him in another song. This was able to start the show off in a lively and fun way, and also introduce Rocksmith, which is able to teach anyone how to play guitar in a quick and fun way.

Aisha Tyler added a whole nother level to the show by actually presenting games in an upbeat way (unlike everyone else today) and adding comedy to the show, even with the unbearably half a sleep audience she had to deal with  throughout the show.

After starting things off with a bang with Jerry Cantrell Ubisoft immediately began to fizzle with their trailer of Splintercell: Blacklist. While this did look like a well made, immersive game it seemed more or less the same as most first person shooters, and after already seeing 40,000 other FPSs today, no one wants to see another, especially if it really doesn't offer any innovation whatsoever to the usual FPS formula.

After unveiling Blacklist, they revealed the new Rayman Legends. While there really isn't much new to this game, it seems like a fun all ages platformer that's cartoony graphics look beautiful on its new console home of the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.

Ubisoft then revealed another overly cartoony game, The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot, basically a castle building game where you defend your castle as you steal from other players' castles for the younger ages, at this point look likes Ubi is really trying to appeal to a younger audience.

After revealing this game they unveiled another teaser for South Park: The Stick of Truth (right after 2 kids games, Ubisoft logic.) and while it didn't stack up to the many other teaser trailers out there, it's nice to know that the developers didn't forget that this game does in fact exist.

After that Ubisoft jumped to a new topic again by unveiling the first next gen title of the show,  The Crew. The Crew showed off how powerful the next gen consoles are by making incredibly realistic cityscape and desert environments that were so real looking that the trailer could have passed for a movie trailer! The Crew is one of the first of its kind, an mmorpg racing game centered around making well... A Crew with your friends as you race around and take over the world with your Crew! With the ability to play single player, co-op, or competitive this game allows players to drive, and even work together from all around the in-game world that covers the entire United States. This is one of the few games today that has been able to truly show just how much power the next generation consoles have.

After revealing an already leaked Watchdogs trailer (which makes it no less awesome) they totally switched gears and revealed the incredibly predictable 2014 Just Dance, which besides a new 6 player mode really only offers a new playlist.

After just dance, the next topic was the Raving Rabbids TV show (which looks adorable) that you can play. Why they chose to brand this as a TV show I have no idea, as this is really just an overly cinematic video game, but, no matter what you want to call it, it's time for Assassin's Creed.

Although I've always thought that AC4 could have just been DLC for AC3 (Connor goes pirating, because that would be so hard to make) there's no doubt that Ubisoft puts a lot of time, money, and effort into their games, and this is no exception. Although the trailer was all pre-rendered cgi footage, (because you know, you only need at least 8,000 of those at every press conference) so far this title seems like it will really just be a repackaging of Assassin's Creed 3 with a new story (Call of Duty-esque much?). Also from what we've seen this looks as if this title really has no plans on pushing the boundaries, but rather sticking to what we've seen this whole generation (thanks Ubisoft that's refreshing).

The next announcement (the stand out of the conference) Tom Clancy's The Division, blurred the lines between single and multiplayer gaming. The gameplay featured stunning (I can't enunciate that enough) graphics and an entire team of 3-4 people playing together (that group being part of a much larger group over an entire in game open world), with people being able to drop out and rejoin as they please. With a beautiful UI and an array of abilities to choose from, we've finally found a shooter unveiled at this EA that had some variety to it.

Overall, there weren't many surprises in this conference. However, the conference unveiled a ton of new titles for every type and age of gamer. So overall I'd say this was an enjoyable conference that held something for everyone. Check back here in a few hours for the Sony conference!

                                                                                           -Colby

Microsoft's E3 Press Conference Recap and Review

Hey everyone! On Monday Microsoft hosted their long awaited E3 press conference where they talked about new software and revealed new details about their new console, the Xbox one. Check out a review and recap of the conference down below.

Right from the beginning it's clear Microsoft is looking to make up for its mistake this generation. Immediately from even just the pre show Microsoft started revealing new games that are only for Xbox one, and pretty much in the first five minutes doubled the amount of exclusives found one Xbox 360. However, whether or not they'll be able to keep up the steady stream of exclusives throughout the entire generation is yet to be known.

Aside from just revealing new exclusive games, Microsoft showed what these new games are made of, and why it's worth buying the Xbone to play them. They showed gameplay of the new installment in the long running racing series Forza Motorsport, Forza 5. AIs in these games have evolved beyond being just a computer. Rather than driving in the systematic way we've come to expect with AIs, they drove in a less systematic, more human way, which make for a much more realistic and challenging game.

In the many trailers shown throughout the conference they showed just how realistic games are becoming. At one point in the Quantum Break trailer (A new Microsoft exclusive game) I was shocked that I was looking at a digital person, and not a real human, which shows how dedicated developers are to making the next generation as close to real life as possible.

However, developers are pushing the boundaries in every way, not just in graphics. In games like Project Spark, developers are building on games such as Little Big Planet that let you build your own experience, however, unlike in older generations where you had to use pre made tools that could limit your creativity, in this generation you have complete control over your creations with much more in depth and immersive tools available to you. Also in the same field, there are many new great developments in the open world genre. In new open world games you can interact with everything. Random objects can be picked up and used as improv weapons, and narrow or hard to reach routes that you never thought possible to use in this generation are now easily accessible escape routes, as shown in games like Dead Rising 3.

The conference also showed non gaming features, such as the ability to instantly live stream and record your gameplay to share with your audience online. Basically, everyone in the world will now have a gaming channel. great.

While there were many positives to the conference, it also had many downfalls too. Such as a ton of technical difficulties like no audio, just a terrible pretending to be excited crowd's cheers, in the Crimson Dragon trailer and the gameplay trailer for Battlefield 4 just not starting... like... ever (probably because they were running on Windows 8), scripted and awkwardly delivered jokes that garnered little to no laughs from the audience, and the omission of details like how the Xbone will handle used games and the topic of the Xbone not being able to work unless logging in to Xbox Live every 24 hours, details the gamers need, unlike the constant mentioning and plugging of SmartGlass. And then the worst of it all, an incredible launch price of $500! That means buying just 2 games along with your system will cost at the lowest $640. Is a system full of the exact same first person shooter over and over, live TV only available only at launch and in just one county, and basically not being able to be played in rural areas of the country as you have to stay logged in to play, worth $500? I'll let you answer that one.

Well, that's it for the Microsoft press conference! Tell me what you thought of it in the comments below, and I'll see you soon for EA, Ubisoft, and Sony conferences.

                                                                                                -Colby

Injustice: Gods Among Us Review

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to be reviewing Injustice: Gods Among Us! Let's jump right in to the review.

Injustice is a brawler based around the DC Comics universe. The gameplay is very similar to Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, but rather than having multiple rounds each character has two health bars. My main gripe with the gameplay is that besides the very unique wager (where both players wager a certain amount of their super bar [the super bar is what you build up to unleash your most powerful attack] in secret, and whoever wagered the most wins) the fights are extremely repetitive, and even when I play just one match I start to get bored. Along with that, all the characters have a very limited moveset. Another problem I have is that there are no items. While items aren't present in every fighting game, this game would have been able to add a ton of unique items which would have added a lot of variety to the fights, variety that is definitely needed. However there are some good points to the gameplay. Stage interaction is one of those good points. Every stage has different hazards to avoid, which always adds variety to the match. Also, characters always interact with the environment, which can completely change the mood of the match. Speaking of mood, mood is my main problem with the graphics. While the graphics are certainly nothing to sneeze at, everything is very dull, and nothing really pops, which is just another element that makes this game very boring.

The story mode is a big plus for this game. Unlike some fighting games, this game's story is very thought out and makes sense, and isn't just a bunch of random battles thrown together. My only problem with story mode is that rather than switching up who you play as throughout the story (or letting you pick your character), it has you play as one certain character for about ten battles each, which gets very redundant.

And while I've already listed a ton of complaints about this game, I have one that tops them all. There is only one game mode. There is only one vs. one matches. No tag teams, no 1 vs. 3, no nothing. This is my main reason why I suggest you shouldn't go get this game, and if you really want to get it, at least wait for a price cut.

Well, this is my review, tell me what you guys think of the game in the comments, and I'll see you soon!

                                                -Colby