1400 Words about Day 1

So day one is complete. It took me near 3 hours (half the day) to pick my jaw up. I used today to familiarize myself with the layout and get an idea in regards to what I want to try out, what I want to find out more information on, and what I want to avoid.

As a means of forcing you to read the entire article here, I’m going to lead off with what disappointed me:

Meh…

• Medal of Honor – I didn’t actually get a chance to play it. The two times that I jumped either into the private room line or started lining up behind the displays in the EA lobby, I was more or less forced out of line so that media or competing companies could get a look at it. The first time I was brushed aside for Activision (I think, the EA guy manning the line said Activision, but I didn’t get a look at their badges). The second time I was asked to leave but didn’t find out who was taking my place. I just know that they filled all the display units in the lobby area for MoH. At least the second time I was given a nice Velcro badge thing that’s a pretty sweet addition to my swag bag (which is mostly just shirts and tote bags).
  
  The problem with this game (at least the multiplayer that they were showing off) is that it looks TOO similar to Modern Warfare 2. From what I could see it didn’t show any sort of uniqueness that I wanted to see. Bad Company 2 was a breath of fresh air for me coming from MW2, and I was hoping that MoH could maintain that momentum, but I fear it might fall flat unless they have something else up their sleeve.
  
• 3d Gaming – I played a forgettable mech game at the Squeenix booth that utilized Nvidia’s 3d display tech for the PC. I found it awfully disorienting. Now that could have been that the depth of field was set too high for my personal tastes, especially as it was my first go at 3d gaming, or that the game wasn’t well enough optimized to take full advantage of it; but I walked away with a headache and didn’t enjoy the 10 minutes I spent at the kiosk. Further, that experience completely turned me off to 3d gaming in general as I walked around the show floor. Sony had a myriad of demo units set up that utilized the 3d capabilities of the PS3, and I just don’t see that tech becoming mainstream in the current incarnation.
  
  Important: I am not writing off the 3DS from Nintendo. I need to devote a whole day to their booth, as it was THE place to be today. I overheard tons of conversations around the show floor that the big N was the clear winner between the 3 console manufacturers. From what I glanced at walking through, the 3DS looks fantastic, and might change my opinion on 3d gaming simply because it doesn’t require glasses.
  
• Kinect and Move – I know that I shouldn’t knock something till I try it, and the people that were trying it out looked like they were having a lot of fun; I just don’t think it’s for me. Kinect seems super appealing to casual gamers and their 15 minute pick up and play sessions, but I couldn’t imagine attempting to play a serious game for 20 hours dancing around. And the Move controller looks like a light up karaoke microphone.
  
• Bethesda – Simply because their booth was closed to the attending public and access was limited to appointments only. Maybe that will open up as the convention continues. There are always a few surprises that last into the closing days.

Now for the good!

• Homefront – This gem from THQ recently had a trailer released (last week?) and it looked like something to keep an eye out for. Unfortunately they didn’t have any playable versions on the show floor, but they did have an “informational” booth that gave you a 12 minute or so preview of what to expect. They replayed the trailer and then played through a portion of a mission. If the rest of the single player maintains the intensity that I saw in those 12 minutes, this is going to be a fantastic shooter. I just hope they put as much focus into the multiplayer that they are putting into the single player and this will become a tough one to beat.
  
• Koei/Tecmo – Their booth had a lot of games that looked very strong. Warriors: Legends of Troy looked like a great action title. Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll looked very promising as well. I want to spend some good quality time at their booth tomorrow. Unfortunately when I was browsing through all the demo units were filled up and had a bit of a crowd. And I don’t really like standing in one place for too long.
  
• The New 360 – It’s just sexy looking. Sleek, black, shiny. 802.11n and a 250gb HD built in. Just a great look for the system in general and I hope it isn’t plagued by the same issues the originals had.

And now for things I need to stand in line for and get a closer look at

• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter – I kept passing by the booth and wanting to jump in line. But I was afraid of being let down similarly to MoH. They had a guy demonstrating a play through but when I walked by it broke. Every time I walked by after that it was just replaying the live-action trailer that’s been out for a while. I need to stand in that line.
  
• Nintendo Everything – Problem being that you really only have time to visit with 1 big thing, there were that many people. I want to play with the 3DS. I want to play with the new Zelda. I was watching people play Zelda and it looked just as awesome as you would expect a Zelda game to be. I am also excited for Ocarina of Time being re-released in 3d on the 3DS. Chance to relieve the glory days on the go. I love my DS Lite and expect the same amount of enjoyment out of the 3DS. But with only 2 days left and things still on my list to visit; I don’t know if I should devote an entire day to waiting in lines inside the Nintendo camp, or use that time to wait in several smaller lines and experience more games.
  
• The EA booth – It’s a great place. Every hour they are doing a presentation on an upcoming game that’s part of their greater lineup. They did The Old Republic twice, MMA, Sims 3 console, and probably more. Tomorrow is going to be a different lineup and I was enjoying their presentations today.
  
• Luchalibre Wresting – Simply because they have Mexican wrestling taking place throughout the day. It’s a whole lot of fun
  
• Mafia 2 – I must have walked by this booth 100 times today. I have very fond memories of the first Mafia. I think I didn’t want to stop and test it out for two reasons. 1) Afraid it’s not done right and doesn’t live up to my expectations of the game. 2) Afraid it’s going to be awesome and my limited playtime will force me to kidnap a developer for the full game. I’m hoping it #2 because I don’t want to be disappointed in it.

There is probably a lot more that I am forgetting. But there was just too much to take in. I also have a few pictures, some of which came out bad (I didn’t realize I had accidentally clicked my camera into the wrong setting and it gave it no ability to focus on anything). Ill post those into a separate post because this one is already way too long.