After Microsoft eased some peoples fears somewhat that the XO (Xbox One for new readers) is still a games machine it was EA’s turn to wow the crowd. Opening with a bazillion spotlights spinning around that I feared could blind some people, they opened (after an intro by CEO Peter Moore) with the follow up to PvsZ. The demo of Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare stated with a clever mick take on Battlefield 4, then it fleshed out to show it to an entertaining looking Horde mode third person shooter. After that the excitable chap jump like a kid opening THE BEST PRESENT EVER and announced Peggle 2. Then there was another showing of Titanfall, as after all Respawn are owned by Electronic Arts. After the brief teaser of Star Wars Battlefront, to the rapturous applause of the crowd, it was Need For Speed Rivals turn. Enjoyable, but it seems just a slight progression on NFS:Hot Pursuit. Sure that’s a great, one I still have in my PS3 collection, but it is 3 years old, and there have been another NFS since then, plus Criterion isn’t involved. I’m sure it’ll be fine, it looks to be no different apart from a meshing of single and multiplayer (but most games are doing that now). This was then followed by an EPK (electronic Press Kit) that get on tv and dvds of the NFS movie. Basically a dull looking Fast and Furious clone. Next to parade in front of the crowd was the next Dragon Age game, as it was a brief cg trailer it was a proper sequel or
a glorified DA 2. So lets move on to the sport tiles, opening with NBA Live, after opening with some fine beat/dribble poetry they were boasting one major feature in the game – the ball leaves your hand. Wow, all this processing power of the new consoles, that and almost immediate stat updates, is all EA can boast about. It was similar to Madden, who was next up. Then it was Fifa’s turn, what bad luck they had that the time they bigged up their relationship with Barcelona they are not that great right now. I’m glad they're good not great, as it gave Celtic a chance to beat them 2 – 0 in the 2012/13 Champions League. I was going to say it boast the similar obvious adjustments as NBA Live, but games journalists who have already played it say its great. Next it was the UFC licenced MMA game, announced by the voice of the UFC – Bruce Buffer – UFC head Dan White and 2 fight champions joined the games producer. It looked okay, but it seems only to have more flexible bodies, that ripple more when it. Next up is a multiplayer demo of Battlefield 4 – The Siege of Shangai. Having 64 players in the game is mightily impressive but on the whole it was as impressive as The Angry Sea demo earlier on. To close the show was another brief teaser for another much-asked game Mirror’s Edge 2. A prequel than following the story of the first game, it shows Faith getting her tattoos and running in a corridor. Over all a quite boring show.
a glorified DA 2. So lets move on to the sport tiles, opening with NBA Live, after opening with some fine beat/dribble poetry they were boasting one major feature in the game – the ball leaves your hand. Wow, all this processing power of the new consoles, that and almost immediate stat updates, is all EA can boast about. It was similar to Madden, who was next up. Then it was Fifa’s turn, what bad luck they had that the time they bigged up their relationship with Barcelona they are not that great right now. I’m glad they're good not great, as it gave Celtic a chance to beat them 2 – 0 in the 2012/13 Champions League. I was going to say it boast the similar obvious adjustments as NBA Live, but games journalists who have already played it say its great. Next it was the UFC licenced MMA game, announced by the voice of the UFC – Bruce Buffer – UFC head Dan White and 2 fight champions joined the games producer. It looked okay, but it seems only to have more flexible bodies, that ripple more when it. Next up is a multiplayer demo of Battlefield 4 – The Siege of Shangai. Having 64 players in the game is mightily impressive but on the whole it was as impressive as The Angry Sea demo earlier on. To close the show was another brief teaser for another much-asked game Mirror’s Edge 2. A prequel than following the story of the first game, it shows Faith getting her tattoos and running in a corridor. Over all a quite boring show.
  Some of the 64 people playing the Siege of Shanghai multiplayer map |  Ix this a shot from Hot Pursuit or Rivals I can’t be certain  Even plants and Zombies have a sense of humour. |
The last filling in the Microsoft/SONY Conference sandwich was Ubisoft (why are these companies have ‘soft’ in part of there name, why can’t these people be ‘hard, well hard ). Opening the show was lead guitarist from Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell, showcasing the new Session Mode in the new Guitar Hero/Rock Band-alike game – Rocksmith. After jamming with virtual band he told the shows host that it’s a good tool to learn the guitar. After the usual suck-up to Jerry and Alice In Chains the event’s host, 12ft tall Aisha Tyer (an ‘Actress’ by profession) then sucked up to the crowd. After the Twitter plugs, as Ubisoft is also hosting the Post-Show (all the rage now in tv) the next proper reveal was Splinter Cel Blacklist for the 360. Showing a popular coming back to the series – Spies vs
Mercs. To be honest it was quite messy in that they had a billion different clips playing everywhere, and they particularly interesting ones too. Then it was Rayman’s turn, with clips of the new game Rayman Legends. Yes, Origins was a great game, and this should be fun too, but it is more of the same, so let move on. The first Ubisoft Dwarf, well they in comparison to Aisha, she is tall, why on earth did she need for Stilettos as well. He arrived on stage to announce a new Free-To-Play game The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot, it was mainly a fun trailer so let’s move on again. Next was a top trailer for South Park: The Stick Of Truth, apart from me saying ‘Yay, it still exists.’ that’s all that can be said.
I really felt sorry for this guy, the co-founder and CEO of Ubisoft Yves Guillemot. When he came on stage he looked like Warwick Davis next to Steven Merchant, he looked so embarrassed. To kick off the next gen titles, he first of cours bigged up the company then introduced another racing title – The Crew. Although not to most graphically impressive game, the customisation and that you can drive all the USA was impressive. Like the other driving games it meshed the Single and Multiplayer experiences, and was like if Test Drive Unlimited and PS2 game Smugglers Run had a kid it would be this. It shouldn’t be that surprising as most of the people making The Crew made TDU. Then it was time for the star of last years E3 Watch Dogs to shine again. Because of it’s popularity Ubisoft are in danger of showing to much of it now, as great it still is it has signs of running out of tricks. As with this showing, and the one at SONY’S, the action does end up mostly gunning people down. The first few demos of it showed a deft manipulation of security tech (like CCTV and Computer Mainframes) to work your way through missions. This was mainly a trailer for catching a Human Trafficker, but it show despite all the security manipulations, you end up fighting and gunning to escape. But then, of course Watchdogs then made way for The Big Game – Just Dance 2014. <Ahem>, following that musical (well I say musical) interlude it was time for Rabbids Invasion. Instead of just being a games it’s also a kids show too. It’ll entertain the wee bairns, and it has one of the metaphors of this years E3, so it’ll be a fine and dandy.
Mercs. To be honest it was quite messy in that they had a billion different clips playing everywhere, and they particularly interesting ones too. Then it was Rayman’s turn, with clips of the new game Rayman Legends. Yes, Origins was a great game, and this should be fun too, but it is more of the same, so let move on. The first Ubisoft Dwarf, well they in comparison to Aisha, she is tall, why on earth did she need for Stilettos as well. He arrived on stage to announce a new Free-To-Play game The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot, it was mainly a fun trailer so let’s move on again. Next was a top trailer for South Park: The Stick Of Truth, apart from me saying ‘Yay, it still exists.’ that’s all that can be said.
I really felt sorry for this guy, the co-founder and CEO of Ubisoft Yves Guillemot. When he came on stage he looked like Warwick Davis next to Steven Merchant, he looked so embarrassed. To kick off the next gen titles, he first of cours bigged up the company then introduced another racing title – The Crew. Although not to most graphically impressive game, the customisation and that you can drive all the USA was impressive. Like the other driving games it meshed the Single and Multiplayer experiences, and was like if Test Drive Unlimited and PS2 game Smugglers Run had a kid it would be this. It shouldn’t be that surprising as most of the people making The Crew made TDU. Then it was time for the star of last years E3 Watch Dogs to shine again. Because of it’s popularity Ubisoft are in danger of showing to much of it now, as great it still is it has signs of running out of tricks. As with this showing, and the one at SONY’S, the action does end up mostly gunning people down. The first few demos of it showed a deft manipulation of security tech (like CCTV and Computer Mainframes) to work your way through missions. This was mainly a trailer for catching a Human Trafficker, but it show despite all the security manipulations, you end up fighting and gunning to escape. But then, of course Watchdogs then made way for The Big Game – Just Dance 2014. <Ahem>, following that musical (well I say musical) interlude it was time for Rabbids Invasion. Instead of just being a games it’s also a kids show too. It’ll entertain the wee bairns, and it has one of the metaphors of this years E3, so it’ll be a fine and dandy.
 Even New York looks so bad, The Division looks so good  I am here to announce that I will be the new R2-D2 in Star Wars Episode VII |  Yes indeed, FRONT FLIP FOR STYLE you coming to the PS4 (as well as the XO)  This what you get when you pull my finger. |
After the silliness it was time to unleash your Pirate impressions, as it was Assassin Creed: Black Flag-time ( ;( ‘Arrr’). I didn’t like AC3, as it was a dreaded blast from the past, as in you had to complete the missions the way it wanted to not you. Plus the new Assassin – Connor was a wolly nonce, no Altair or Ezio.This time it was a good integration of sneaking, fighting, and the ship battles, you really saw the sense of scale with this game. I do have high hopes that this is a return to form for the series. The came a demo that made me squeal with excitement. Not that it’s coming to XO, but now it’s also coming to the PS4 – the new Trials Evolution game, Trials Fusion. But not just that but it’s coming tablet and smartphone, with Trials Frontier. That’s nice, but the main thing is I can play a series I almost bought a 360 just to play, after playing it over weekend at a friends house. It came late to the PS3 and Urban Trial Freestyle is good stand-in, but it’s no Trials Evolution. Fusion looks simple but fantastic, with the gameplay just as great (with added trick moves) .
After that it was time for another star of this years E3 – The Division to end the Event. Graphically stunning, one of the few games that
can say it’s truly next gen, it’s a multiplayer action RPG where again you wander around a in-toil city. In a future America it’s distraught after a major flu virus wiped out a quarter of the population on Black Tuesday (where people crush each other after Thanksgiving for bargains)
Simon James
After that it was time for another star of this years E3 – The Division to end the Event. Graphically stunning, one of the few games that
can say it’s truly next gen, it’s a multiplayer action RPG where again you wander around a in-toil city. In a future America it’s distraught after a major flu virus wiped out a quarter of the population on Black Tuesday (where people crush each other after Thanksgiving for bargains)
Simon James
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