Ben-DutkaE3. Over. …lots of articles. And videos. Monosyllabic communication may be the only possibility and yet, I can't miss my Week in Review.
Metal Gear Solid: Rising lets me see the other side…
For months, all long-time Final Fantasy fans have been saying that FFXIII felt disappointing, primarily because we were looking for something different. We were looking for something distinctly Final Fantasy . What we got was a new installment designed to drag in new – perhaps distinctly Western – fans, which is why fans sorta felt a little betrayed. I maintain the game is fantastic although I say that in comparison to the rest of the series, it falls short of super-lofty expectations. Now, as for Metal Gear Solid , I love the franchise but I sort of got into later (around MGS3) and therefore, I'm not as personally tied to it…which in turn is why I think Metal Gear Solid: Rising looks awesome. I know it's an obvious departure but the game looks polished and beautiful and crazy entertaining, so I'm psyched. At the same time, I'm not surprised to see a lot of negativity coming from the lifelong MGS followers.
See, I get it. I get it because almost the exact same thing happened to "my" franchise. So now I can see it from both sides, and I can better understand both sides. My brother, for instance, is currently playing FFXIII and he loves it. It's the first FF he's played and in fact, one of the first RPGs, but wasn't Square-Enix's goal to ensnare people like him? For Rising , I love the old MGS but I'll keep an open mind for the shift because, I suppose, the old gems don't sit quite as close to my heart.
Some of my E3 highlights
Obviously, we were big fans of the Twisted Metal announcement , only in part because Dave Jaffe and Scott Campbell really showed us some love . PlayStation Move now interests me a little more, I'm very very glad Gran Turismo 5 has a finalized release date , and Killzone 3 pretty much blew me away . I was also impressed with what EA brought to the show, as both Dead Space 2 and Medal of Honor were definite highlights, in my opinion. I also think it's just plain amusing that we finally heard the booth babes speak out about the gamers and journalists they see during the week. There are always certain aspects of every E3 show that one tends to remember, and I can guarantee the Twisted Metal unveiling and Gabe Newell's shocking announcement won't be forgotten any time soon.
Personal gaming update
Obviously, I didn't have a heck of a lot of time for games, but I've finally managed to get out of Mexico in Red Dead Redemption , and I finished up Joe Danger . Next up is probably Alan Wake , although I might just wait until my birthday; in the meantime, I'll take a break. Maybe I'll start up a game of FFVII or FFT, which is my default option whenever I take a break from new games. With the first half of 2010 featuring so many huge titles, I've struggled to keep up but strangely enough, I'm not really behind. Of course, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is always in the running for a nostalgic replay. And there's something else, too- I've been honestly considering a Wii purchase for the sole purpose of playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 . I hate buying a console for only one game but this might have to happen. We'll see.
By the way, now that our secret is out, I can finally explain how we came to know about it; thought you might like to know. Back at the end of 2008, we did an interview with Jaffe and Campbell . I spoke to Scott first and during that time, he started telling me all about Twisted Metal ; he used the name more than a few times, which confused me. Then when I spoke to Dave and started referring to the project by its name, he stopped me and said they hadn't announced any such game. Then I told him about my conversation with Scott and he seemed surprised, but asked me very politely if we could keep it under wraps. I agreed. And that's the way the situation stayed until this past week. There. Happy? 🙂
