E3 Discussion Thread

[Rockie_Fresh88]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

Cool pic IMO

[Blzer]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

When's the last time you bought a music cd in a store? My point exactly.

Just bought Jimmy Eat World - Damage in Best Buy last Wednesday. It's still playing in my car.

[goh]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

The only game I came out of all this looking forward to is Below and that's only because I assume it's coming to PC.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

The Creepy Side of E3
http://kotaku.com/the-creepy-side-of-e3-513484271

"I was nervous," she recalled. "He laughed, and said, 'It's just that it's funny, because I'm here and there are all these hot girls here and then you find out they're gamers. I didn't know girls like this existed, and I'm basically getting paid to stand here all day and look at them.'

[LambertandHam]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

The Creepy Side of E3
http://kotaku.com/the-creepy-side-of-e3-513484271

Think of the all the video game related pick up lines one could use at E3...

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

I feel like the comic book and video game industries overlap in a lot of negative ways.

[Flawless]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

Digital Foundry: The next-gen joypads: a true evolution?

To start, Microsoft's new analogue sticks are smaller in diameter and shorter in height, with textured rims around their concave indents. Previously we had four rubber spots to guide our thumbs, but this recess creates a closer lock on our digits as we tilt the sticks in circular motions. The down-sizing of these analogues had us worried at first, but control ultimately feels just as tight as before, while the claimed decrease in dead-zone parameters is acutely felt in games like Forza Motorsport 5. This is a measure of how far the stick needs to move before actions start to register on-screen, and the reduced travel definitely helps here for gentler nudges to the car's direction.

It's a similar scenario for the analogue sticks on Sony's Dual Shock 4. Tightened dead-zones make games like DriveClub eminently easier to control, but the bigger change here is in the friction of the sticks - increased to bring it closer to the pressure needed on the Xbox One's. The old PS3 sticks with their convex grips are often criticised for feeling a little too delicate in travel, and with a purchase that could be lost a little more easily without an indent or groove. This is now squarely put to rights with a dimpled recess to the topsides of each new stick. Overall, it's striking how similar both controllers feel in this department, as if the houses of PlayStation and Xbox both independently honed in on the very same sweet-spot for grip and required pressure.

Looking to the buttons, the Dual Shock 4 boasts a more tightly packed d-pad than usual, using a silkier matte texture that tapers off towards the centre point. It's slippery to the touch which takes some getting used to - to be expected after three generations of using rougher d-pads for quarter-circle motions in fighters. On the right side of the pad, the 8-bit precision analogue face buttons of the last controller are swapped out for digital versions, largely due to their lack of practical use in games, but also to improve communication speeds with the PS4 console. This change in latency isn't appreciable in practise, but the buttons now sink with a more tactile click when our input registers.

As for the Xbox One controller's d-pad, we finally get a long-overdue revision over the current-gen's block design, and there's no looking back. A Nintendo-style cross lays over a gentle inward bend in the pad's mould, with each point depressing in every which way without their edges tapping against the contour. The E3 Killer Instinct demo sadly only has arcade sticks hooked to up it, ruling out a proper litmus test with 2D fighters. However, quick-switching between the offensive and defensive play styles in FIFA 14 by tapping left and right shows fudged, misinterpreted inputs should now be a thing of the past.

Looking northwards on the Xbox pad, its two triggers are cut to a more angular design than before, creating a natural bending point for index fingers wrapping around it. Easier depression on triggers is also a major plus over the very resistive spring-loaded feel of the 360's counterparts. Comparatively, Sony's stock controller gets the bigger overhaul in this area though - the design sports a gentle outwards tilt that catches the bend of each finger, narrowing to a finer point. It's difficult to eulogise the effectiveness of this approach; while not quite a full hook in the style of the rival pad's, it works wonderfully well in securing each finger, and the tension needed to drive it down once again feels equitable to Microsoft's solution.

The "impulse triggers" on the Xbox One are a particularly inspired choice, which have an extra motor linked directly to each shoulder button. While there are no FPSs on the show floor to bear this out, games like Forza Motorsport 5 are well optimised for it, sending a bizarre mixture of vibrations - both bass and treble, if you will - simultaneously to your palms and fingertips as acceleration is modulated. The effect is electrifying, but with four motors firing off at once you'd be forgiven for thinking battery life may suffer as a result. Some of these concerns are allayed by promises that the controller features a low-power battery mode, turning off parts of the controller - rumble included - when the controller is idle, and without the need to constantly re-sync.

Sony's gamepad also has some tricks up its sleeve. At the Dual Shock 4's centre is a capacitative dual point touchpad, lodged between the mono speaker and home button below, plus the share and options buttons to either side. Helpfully, these two function buttons are placed closer to the natural arc of your thumbs during grip - though we don't get the use of any of Sony's touted community features during E3 demos. The light bar on top is also scarcely used during E3 demos, but for multiplayer its colour-coding works as an effective alternative to the LED indicators on our current wireless Dual Shock 3s.

The touch interface is unique, and presents a more nuanced way to interact with game worlds. It's clickable like a regular laptop mouse pad, and even light touches to its surface are quick in response - in theory, an RTS game based around pinch-to-zoom and panning gestures could find a comfortable home on the platform in future. Even so, the most effective use for these controls in games available so far involves swiping in cardinal directions to activate hot-keyed moves in Warframe and Killzone: Shadowfall. Unlike the gyrometer controls also packed into the device, this input is an unknown quantity in the console space, and so we'll have to see what unfolds.

Certainly, controller comfort will always be a strict matter of personal taste, but between the two, the balance between conservation and evolution has been judged with care.

[rewind247]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

Titanfall and BF4 look amazing. I'm also a big fan of COD, so Ghost is also on my buy list come Christmas.

[Flawless]

Re: E3 Discussion Thread

Conan weighs in on the great video game console debate of 2013. Just be aware, he is VERY wishy-washy.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HO5imsViKp0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>