{"id":17949,"date":"2018-06-20T00:01:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T00:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=17949"},"modified":"2018-06-20T01:29:47","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T01:29:47","slug":"e3-2018-part-1-carys-re-return-to-e3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/20\/e3-2018-part-1-carys-re-return-to-e3\/","title":{"rendered":"E3 2018 Part 1: Cary’s Re-Return to E3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Electronics Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short, is one of the biggest trade shows in the video game industry, and I\u2019ve been going to it nearly every year since 1997.\u00a0 Sure I\u2019ve skipped a few years here and there.\u00a0 Like when I didn\u2019t have an outlet to write on for a short while between the newspaper and GamerDad.\u00a0 Or when I just started a new job and didn\u2019t have enough money or vacation time.\u00a0 Or when E3 went through a bit of a downsizing phase and I didn\u2019t feel like it was worth the trip then.\u00a0 But those absences were all my choice.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been able to go nearly every year otherwise.\u00a0 But for the past five years, I was denied a press pass for whatever reason.\u00a0 Yet somehow, this year I was able to get a media pass even though nothing had changed.\u00a0 So last week I went to E3, and here\u2019s some articles about it!<\/p>\n

For the most part, E3 hadn\u2019t changed much since I went back in 2012.\u00a0 The security was tighter and it was a pain in the butt to get in the first day, but was easier on subsequent visits.\u00a0 Since I\u2019ve been blind in my left eye since birth, sometimes I need help getting around so I usually take a relative to these shows and this year I took my dad again and we had a lot of fun.\u00a0 I still like E3 a little better than PAX as E3 has more games I\u2019m interested in covering, and some exhibitors treat the media better at E3.\u00a0 But PAX is still a fun show, too, for different reasons.\u00a0 But since I went to E3 this year, I\u2019m sad to say I won\u2019t be going to PAX West later as well.\u00a0 Mainly because I don\u2019t have enough vacation time at work, but also because PAX usually shows the same stuff E3 had anyway.\u00a0 This was also the second year that E3 has let the public in, which I think was a mistake.\u00a0 The public has shows like PAX they can go to, and PAX West is almost as good as E3 now anyway.\u00a0 But it would be nice if the industry and media folks could get E3 back so we can do what we need to do without all the extra crowds.\u00a0 But that\u2019s all I have to say about that.\u00a0 Let\u2019s check out some of the games I played at the show!<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, one disclaimer.\u00a0 I\u2019m only one person, and couldn\u2019t play EVERYTHING at the show.\u00a0 So if your favorite game isn\u2019t in these articles, I just didn\u2019t get a chance to play it.\u00a0 Plus since GamerDad is a family-focused site, I tried to play only games that would fit our audience.\u00a0 There will be some exceptions, though, but yeah, I couldn\u2019t play everything!<\/p>\n

LEGO DC Super Villains<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most fun things about the LEGO Batman games was getting to play as the bad guys, so here\u2019s a whole game about that!\u00a0 It was also one of the first games I saw before entering the show, as they had a big poster outside advertising it.<\/p>\n

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They also played it up big time at WB Games\u2019 booth as well.<\/p>\n

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The game plays pretty much like how you\u2019d expect a LEGO game to be.\u00a0 You actually start out as a regular bad guy and can create your own look.\u00a0 You agree to help Commissioner Gordon spy on Lex Luthor\u2019s plans in return for a shorter prison sentence.\u00a0 But you soon get caught up in Lex\u2019s plan to break out of jail and steal something that can absorb super powers in the process.\u00a0 By doing this, you\u2019ll be able to get super powers for your created character as well, like heat vision in the demo.\u00a0 You\u2019ll play as other characters, too, like Lex, Solomon Grundy, The Joker, Harley Quinn, and some cheetah lady (sorry, I don\u2019t read comic books), each with their own powers.\u00a0 At the end of the demo, you\u2019ll clash with the Justice League and an alternate universe version of the Justice League, so it looks like the bad guys are going to have their hands full!\u00a0 The game comes out a little before Halloween, so it\u2019s a perfect time to let out your dark side!\u00a0 But don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s still a LEGO game and very silly and family-friendly.<\/p>\n

Sonic Team Racing<\/strong><\/p>\n

SEGA had a lot of games shown, but I was only able to check out one at their booth: Sonic Team Racing.\u00a0 It\u2019s a kart racer and made by the same folks who did the last two Sonic and SEGA character racers, but this features a Sonic-only cast.\u00a0 It plays like any other kart racer, as you can nab power-ups and drift and such.\u00a0 The game features a team-based aspect.\u00a0 I picked Tails, the best Sonic character, so my CPU teammates were Sonic and Knuckles.\u00a0 As you race and pick up power-ups, you have the option to pass them along to your team, or pick up one they got.\u00a0 You can also follow your teammates and get a slipstream boost, and as you race you can even activate a super boost for everyone on your team.\u00a0 It was still pretty hard, though and I got last place!\u00a0 The game didn\u2019t seem as good as past Sonic racers, but it\u2019s only a demo so maybe it\u2019ll improve when the full game is released later this year.\u00a0 At SEGA\u2019s booth they had a little photo opportunity where you can sit in Sonic\u2019s car, so I took a picture of that.<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere at E3 was another Sonic-related photo opportunity where you could stand inside a Sonic loop.\u00a0 It was for some Sonic themed shoes or something.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a picture of that, too.<\/p>\n

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SEGA\u2019s booth was kind of weird as they shared it with other companies like Atlus, NIS America, and others.\u00a0 But it was all roped off so it was a little hard to see what was in there.\u00a0 But I did dive in a few times and played some games from other companies.\u00a0 Like NIS America.\u00a0 I tried their upcoming SNK 40th<\/sup> Anniversary Collection, which has a bunch of SNK\u2019s arcade classics.\u00a0 The neat thing is that you can also play the console versions of these games as well, and some games like Crystalis, let you play both the NES and GBC versions of the game!\u00a0 The collection will come with a little over a dozen games, and you can download more for free later, which is an odd way to do a collection.\u00a0 But oh well, I\u2019m getting it anyway!\u00a0 NIS also had the Switch version of Ys 8.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already played it on PS4, but it\u2019s nice for the Switch to get another big adventure, too.\u00a0 Games from other companies I played at SEGA\u2019s weird combined booth include PM Studios\u2019 MUSYNX rhythm game, which is coming out soon.\u00a0 And Monster Boy, a 2-D platform adventure and a true Wonder Boy sequel!\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait for that one!<\/p>\n

GungHo<\/strong><\/p>\n

They had a pretty lively booth with colorful games and costumed characters.\u00a0 Here\u2019s some near the area for the Switch version of Galax-Z.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But their biggest game they were showing off was Ninjala.\u00a0 Aesthetically, it reminded me of Splatoon, as the characters are brightly colored kids in an urban environment.\u00a0 But these kids are bubble gum blowing ninjas.\u00a0 When you hold down the button to blow a bubble, it gets bigger and bigger and allows you to glide and climb walls.\u00a0 You can pop it and sent it to other players to trap them in gum.\u00a0 You can also summon an oversized baseball bat to clobber other players for points.\u00a0 It had a single player and multiplayer modes, but that\u2019s all I could figure out from it.<\/p>\n

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And another guy in costume from that game as well.<\/p>\n

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XSEED\/Marvelous<\/strong><\/p>\n

They had quite a few games at their booth, but the one I tried was GalMetal.\u00a0 In the game, you are the drummer in an all-girl Japanese metal band, and you must use the power of metal rock to stop an invasion of octopus aliens.\u00a0 You use the Switch JoyCons to drum to the beat, but you are encouraged to make your own rhythms for a higher score.\u00a0 It\u2019ll be out later this year.<\/p>\n

Fortnite<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been hearing a lot about Fortnite lately.\u00a0 They even had a huge booth at E3!\u00a0 I liked the cartoony look of the game, but I don\u2019t know if the gameplay is my cup of tea.\u00a0 It\u2019s free on the Switch right now, I wonder if I should try it?\u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n

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This flying bus was part of the Fortnite booth.\u00a0 I called it the Magic School Bus.<\/p>\n

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Bethesda<\/strong><\/p>\n

They were one of the most talked about companies at E3, and my brothers are looking forward to a lot of their games, so I took some pictures of their booth.\u00a0 Here\u2019s one of those \u2018swing the hammer to ring the bell\u2019 games at the Rage 2 section.<\/p>\n

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And here\u2019s the Fallout man from the Fallout game series.\u00a0 They had a new game of that at their booth, too.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get to look at any of it, though, as their booth was always so crowded.<\/p>\n

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Jurassic World Evolution<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a game where you can make your own Jurassic World theme park!\u00a0 I just liked the presentation of the booth as you walked through the gates while the theme song played.\u00a0 And the game is out now!<\/p>\n

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Accessories<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back when I wrote for The Dallas Morning News, not only did I write game reviews, but reviews of gaming accessories as well.\u00a0 So I\u2019m always on the lookout for accessories at E3.\u00a0 And there were a lot of them, but you just don\u2019t hear about them in most E3 coverage.\u00a0 So I\u2019m going to conclude this part of my E3 articles by doing that now!<\/p>\n

Noblechairs<\/strong><\/p>\n

I sat in a lot of gaming chairs at E3.\u00a0 Ones with lights and speakers, ones with bright colors, and ones with lots of padding.\u00a0 But I think the most comfortable ones I sat in were from Noblechairs.\u00a0 They were a lot simpler and were toted as more like office chairs, but I liked them the best.\u00a0 They even had optional footrests you can get.\u00a0 They\u2019re designed by German engineers and were modelled after car chairs, too.\u00a0 Hopefully I\u2019ll be able to review one soon!<\/p>\n

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ASTRO Gaming<\/strong><\/p>\n

And finally, ASTRO Gaming had a headset designed after The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild, as well as a Red vs. Blue 10th<\/sup> Anniversary headset.\u00a0 Here are some pictures of the Zelda headphones.\u00a0 They are optimized to work on the Switch, but are compatible with other consoles as well.\u00a0 Both will be out later this year.<\/p>\n

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And here\u2019s the other side.<\/p>\n

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And that\u2019s all for now!\u00a0 Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of my E3 articles, where we\u2019ll look at more games, even Nintendo!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Electronics Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short, is one of the biggest trade shows in the video game industry, and I\u2019ve been going to it nearly every year since 1997.\u00a0 Sure I\u2019ve skipped a few years here and there.\u00a0 Like when I didn\u2019t have an outlet to write on for a short while between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17949"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18000,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17949\/revisions\/18000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}