The Official 2023 Events Thread—Of E3 Hesitancy and Other Things

[Hero-of-Time]

Just catching up with the drama from last night. 

People ain't happy but what else is new? 

[Happenstance]

That Rocket Racing trailer pissed me off. Looks a lot of fun but completely hides the fact that its just a mode in Fortnite. I didn't even realise until I searched for it on the PSN store and couldn't find it. Had to go back to the trailer and see the small writing in the corner at the very end!

[drahkon]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Thanks for posting all the stuff on here, Julius. Much appreciated.  

Gotta echo that. Thank you @Julius

I fell asleep and going through the other consoles forum is much better than trying to sift through stupid gaming news websites

[Happenstance]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Just catching up with the drama from last night. 

People ain't happy but what else is new? 

Not all that surprising. The awards parts always seemed the least important parts of the "Game Awards", falling way behind trailers, advertising and Keighley's ego.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Happenstance

[Helmsly]

3 hours ago, Happenstance said:

That Rocket Racing trailer pissed me off. Looks a lot of fun but completely hides the fact that its just a mode in Fortnite. I didn't even realise until I searched for it on the PSN store and couldn't find it. Had to go back to the trailer and see the small writing in the corner at the very end!

I'm very optimistic over it, they added a Minecraft style Lego mode into Fortnite the other night and its pretty great. I am not sure why they didn't make it its own game, it has enough content to be one. Plus... it literally is a different game. Its so bizarre they released a new game inside another very different game. But, If Rocket Racing is of the same quality as that then it'll be great deal more then just a side mode in Fortnite.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Helmsly

[Julius]

2 hours ago, drahkon said:

Gotta echo that. Thank you @Julius

I fell asleep and going through the other consoles forum is much better than trying to sift through stupid gaming news websites

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Just catching up with the drama from last night. 

People ain't happy but what else is new? 

This stuff was disgusting to me as I watched live, and very early on it quickly became apparent that they would be playing people off – I am surprised that they had the nerve to try to cut the GOTY speech short of all things, if only because it's presented at the death of the show? Anyways, they completely overcorrected after Christopher Judge's colossal speech last year (which, by the way, I was re-listening to the EZA podcast from last year following the TGAs and Kyle said people were running late which is why they were happy to let it run, so what gives, Keighley?). 

This was the first time in years where I've watched the TGAs somewhat spontaneously and without watching along with someone else like Easy Allies (you know, to blunt the drawn out nature of it all), and I was surprised by just how good it was this year; I hopped on probably 20 minutes or so into the show and spent what felt like 70% of it catching up (thanks, SEGA). In terms of new and exciting announcements I think there was very little dead air compared to previous years, I think there were only two major stretches of "urgh, ads", and I do think it generally flowed much better between the bigger reveals. 

I know the show and Keighley get a lot of stick for a lot of things - how it's about his ego, how it's not been about the awards for a while now (if it ever was) - but I do appreciate it being put on simply because it's a hard date in the gaming events calendar to look forward to as a source of potential new announcements. However, I think if you are going to call the show The Game Awards and go through the trouble of flying out some of the industry's biggest talents, not giving them a platform to have the opportunity to share their struggles or inspire the next generation of developers makes the thing a total waste. 

I think what's truly happened - perhaps evidenced most with the Industry Icon award getting axed, what, 5 years ago? - is that the show was positioned the way it was, as an end of year awards show, to pull in attention, hype, and discussion. Geoff used this as a platform to continue strengthening his ties throughout the industry to get more and bigger reveals and announcements - the dude is a total E3 slut; aren't we all? - but when the show found itself with all of the funding and reveals it could ever need...it was now permanently tacked onto the event being an awards show; the awards are secondary, at this point, but I genuinely don't think that this was always the case. He's got his winter E3 event to go with his summer E3 event, now, and I think this is the cost it came at: disrespecting just about everyone who isn't already a big name or isn't backing the show in some way. 

I mean, come on. Someone getting played off as they're diving into the important topic of diversity in voice acting and games? It is disgraceful, but I also think he's painted himself into a corner and now doesn't have much of a choice but to see the show through in its current form 

9 minutes ago, Helmsly said:

I'm very optimistic over it, they added a Minecraft style Lego mode into Fortnite the other night and its pretty great. I am not sure why they didn't make it its own game, it has enough content to be one. If Rocket Racing is of the same quality then it'll be great.

I'd been hearing way more than I'd personally like to about Fortnite in the build-up to the LEGO Fortnite release, but I'd totally just assumed this was a seasonal thing or some skins until I watched the trailer the other day...and it was actually LEGO Save the World/Valheim? Completely caught me by surprise! 

I think it gives them a weird marketing problem, because I would've paid much more attention and noticed much earlier that LEGO Fortnite isn't really Fortnite if it was called just about anything else, but at the same time, I think it just ties into their overall plan for their metaverse to be a hub of content, and I guess that also includes Rocket Racing (which, until now, I did totally think was it's own thing )

The world we live in is getting weird, guys 

[Helmsly]

33 minutes ago, Julius said:

I'd been hearing way more than I'd personally like to about Fortnite in the build-up to the LEGO Fortnite release, but I'd totally just assumed this was a seasonal thing or some skins until I watched the trailer the other day...and it was actually LEGO Save the World/Valheim? Completely caught me by surprise! 

I think it gives them a weird marketing problem, because I would've paid much more attention and noticed much earlier that LEGO Fortnite isn't really Fortnite if it was called just about anything else, but at the same time, I think it just ties into their overall plan for their metaverse to be a hub of content, and I guess that also includes Rocket Racing (which, until now, I did totally think was it's own thing )

The world we live in is getting weird, guys 

Yeah its pretty crazy. I started playing it last night and realised pretty quickly that it is a full fledged game in its own right and that has almost nothing to do with Fortnite other then you can use Lego versions of skins from Fortnite. I teamed up a with a friend and we spent a good 4 hours or so building up a little town, crafting stuff, battling enemies, raiding a cave for materials. It's great.

Its something I find strange though... because this would be like, if Nintendo released a full blown Wave Race or F-zero sequel... as a free update to Tears of the Kingdom. If you wanted to play those games, instead of them being separate games on your Switch menu, instead you would start up Zelda and choose to play F-zero from the title screen. It's bizarre. Also, like you said, the name with make people just assume its a Fortnite map with Lego character's, rather then its own game.

Rocket racing comes out tonight and after playing the Lego mode I am very excited for it.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Helmsly

[drahkon]

37 minutes ago, Julius said:

the awards are secondary, at this point

Yup. It would be so much better if The Game Awards would just be about...you know...the awards.

Just have game announcements at the winter and summer events

37 minutes ago, Julius said:

Someone getting played off as they're diving into the important topic of diversity in voice acting and games?

That pissed me off so much...
One of the biggest topics these days that we should talk about and he gets cut off. In a show about celebrating video games. Video games that bring people together, create communities and help people.

When Neil said "they were seen and they were represented by this game when they lost hope, they felt isolated, they felt alone and this game brought them together", I shed a few tears, because I know who feel that way.

A quote from quite some time ago:

Quote

"The big thing for me identifying with Astarion is that he’s pansexual," Newbon said. "He’s attracted to anybody that he’s attracted to, and he loves anybody that he will love. I think that’s a beautiful message, especially these days when we’ve seen great strides in the LGBTQ+ community, but also seen this unfortunate right wing sweep back against us [...] It’s important to keep pushing the message forward that you should love who you want to love, and that shouldn’t be an issue, and nobody should judge you for it."

I never had to experience judgment or hate for any reason really, especially not for who I love (I'm a straight, white male so no surprises here) but I know many who have and still do. It's disgusting.

This show is seen by a lot of people and it generates a lot of buzz in the industry (and a bit of buzz outside of it). Why the fuck wouldn't you give people the time and space to speak up...or just spread a bit of hope and hugs.

37 minutes ago, Julius said:

it's about his ego

Oh yeah...that's why.

Edited December 8, 2023 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

@Julius I think what I find most annoying about this whole thing is that it's been a VERY rough year for game developers. There have been cuts made across the board and so the ones that are left standing should have been given the spotlight and appreciated. 

The whole thing needs to be split in 2. Have a winter gaming showcase and then have an awards show that gives the developers their time in the sun. Problem is, would such a show even draw a sizeable audience?

[Hero-of-Time]

4 minutes ago, drahkon said:

 

I never had to experience judgment or hate for any reason...

What!? I've judged you many times over the years.

[drahkon]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

What!? I've judged you many times over the years.

Ok...point taken, you cheeky git

(at least you won't judge me for my opinion on BotW and TotK)

[Happenstance]

I look forward to seeing more on those Sega games. Nothing wrong with milking the nostalgia every now and again. It'd be nice if these do well to see some more revivals.

[Happenstance]

What does the game awards air on over in the US do we know? Is it actually shown on tv?

[Hero-of-Time]

19 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I look forward to seeing more on those Sega games. Nothing wrong with milking the nostalgia every now and again. It'd be nice if these do well to see some more revivals.

Personally, I don't see it as milking nostalgia. Sega have a wealth of IP that they could use and it's about time they did exactly that. 

Given that they said more is to come, I'm very excited to see what else they have cooking. I would love to see Skies of Arcadia make a return.

[Happenstance]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

Personally, I don't see it as milking nostalgia. Sega have a wealth of IP that they could use and it's about time they did exactly that. 

Given that they said more is to come, I'm very excited to see what else they have cooking. I would love to see Skies of Arcadia make a return.

Oh yeah I agree but I think announcing them all at once is maybe where the nostalgia milking comes in a bit. I am willing to suckle at that nostalgia teat all day long though, don't get me wrong 

[killthenet]

In terms of announcements I think that was probably the best year they've had, there were plenty of big games revealed as well as some fantastic looking smaller titles (Thrasher and Lost Records being the standouts for me) but in terms of the actual awards the show was probably the worst it has been so far. The way they just did several lightning rounds of awards where the winners didn't even get to accept them on camera was appalling enough but to rush winners of the major awards through their acceptance speeches was just ridiculous. Neil Newbon's speech was fantastic, one of the best moments of the night, but it was curtailed so quickly and then they spent the next 10 mins showing a couple of WORLD PREMIERE announcements - the disconnect was so stark it was almost laughable.

I get that most people are watching for the announcements but Geoff really needs to look at how he balances the show in future - he doesn't give the nominees and winners the respect that they deserve. It's supposed to be a celebration of all the great games released in the last 12 months, giving the talented creators their due, but it just felt more than ever like a 3 hour marketing block with awards reluctantly tacked on - things certainly need to change. 

[Ashley]

I'm disappointed in all of you (note: not checked the forum since 8am but see you've now discussed it). 

[Jonnas]

I was out the entire weekend, and Sega decide to start releasing new titles from their dormant IPs again? What madness is this?

Lovely announcement, glad we could interrupt a couple of speeches to make it.

...

On a more serious note, I hope half the industry boycotts the Awards next year.

[Dcubed]

And it's official...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/video-games/2023/12/12/e3-permanently-canceled/

https://e3expo.com/E3.html

... E3 has closed its doors for good.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Dcubed

[Dcubed]

Also appropriate...
 

Thank God for Jim.

[darksnowman]

Quote

Come celebrate 34 years of the SaGa Franchise with SaGa Glimmerfest 2023, SQUARE ENIX's first ever franchise-wide English language broadcast! Learn more about the upcoming SaGa Emerald Beyond, an all-new entry in the franchise coming in 2024; experience a Q&A with the devs; and hang out and chat with the devs and other SaGa fans from around the world.

Guests: Akitoshi Kawazu, SaGa Franchise General Director
Masanori Ichikawa, SaGa Franchise Producer
Neil Broadley, SaGa Franchise Localization Director

MC: Kaori Kishimoto

Content:
- What is SaGa Day?
- SaGa Emerald Beyond
- Latest Information
- SaGa Franchise Developer Q&A
- Chat and Closing Remarks

Almost there. Synchronise your calendars.

[darksnowman]

A packed half an hour of:

• demos and updates
• new games
• news and release dates

[CrowingJoe79]

It's a pity E3 has been axed after the memories it brought people, but I can see similar events being hosted.

Summertime will have a lot of cool shows spread across the landscape of gaming. So one thing ends, something good can replace it.

[darksnowman]

Quote

Join Mr. Meatless, Santa, and other surprise guests as they share new looks and details on Baby Steps, Pepper Grinder, and The Plucky Squire in this very normal and completely sane holiday special.

Bit mental, this one.

[Glen-i]

2 hours ago, darksnowman said:

Bit mental, this one.

So, an average Devolver Digital presentation, then?

Will check a look later.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Glen-i