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E3 2015 Press Conferences – From Worst to Best

E3 2015 Press Conferences – From Worst to Best

E3 2015 is just about to start up, the doors are about to open, and the press conferences (aside from the PC gaming showcase) are all over. It’s time to pick the winners and losers once more. Here are the press conferences of E3 2015, arranged from worst to best.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft

Ubisoft is rather well known for having dud press conferences at E3, and this year is no exception. Whether it was Jason Derulo’s random performance for Just Dance, the general awkwardness of the stage performers, or the small game lineup that was showcased, one has to wonder why Ubisoft continues to hold these press conferences. They would be much better off holding a digital event or an on floor showcase. The fact that the press conference schedule was all off and a good portion of the audience didn’t even manage to get in didn’t earn it any points either.

Square-Enix

Square-Enix

Square-Enix had an all right showing for its first press conference, but it felt like their presentation was all over the place. The conference started with Just Cause 3, which is an OK game, but Square-Enix is more known for swords and sorcery than guns. A lot of what they showed were simple retreads from previous conferences, like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Hitman, and no new info was available about the projects that we really cared about, like the Final Fantasy VII remake or Final Fantasy XV. Only a new Kingdom Hearts trailer really got the audience going, and even that left something to be desired.

Oculus

Oculus

The Oculus press conference was pretty interesting, in that it was the inverse of most of the other press conferences at E3. Instead of focusing on games, they focused on tech, tech, tech, which was an OK choice considering people still want to know if the Oculus Rift is a peripheral they want to purchase. The reveal of Oculus Touch was cool, but the press conference still felt like it was an outlier when compared to the big kids of Sony and Microsoft.

EA

EA

EA’s press conference started powerfully with Mass Effect, and ended powerfully with Star Wars Battlefront. It also had some fantastic titles in the middle like Mirror’s Edge and Need for Speed. The audience was drooling over these hit titles, but in the meantime they were also drooling as they slept through EA’s sports presentations. Aside from Pele, which was a pretty awesome cameo, most of the EA sports block was filled with buzzwords rather than actual content, and they spent a good half the press conference focusing on sports titles alone. Even worse, none of these sports titles got an actual on-stage demo, except for EA’s new GameFace technology that lets you scan your face via smart phone.

Nintendo

Nintendo

Nintendo had a pretty solid press conference all around. They started with Star Fox, which we all wanted to see, and ended with Super Mario Marker, showing off a lot of the creation engine’s new abilities. There was a lot of focus on amiibo but it didn’t feel like shameless pushing or marketing. We got to see Fire Emblem Fates, Megaten X Fire Emblem, Yokai Watch, and even brand new handheld Metroid and Zelda titles. The only problem with the conference was that very little time was spent on these titles, with most of the titles having no discussion and being nothing more than a trailer. The event only lasted 45 minutes and I was dying for more info by the end of it.

Bethesda

Bethesda

Bethesda’s press conference was like the opposite of Nintendo’s. It showed very few titles, but what titles it did show were drowning with info. DOOM was incredible, if only for its map and game mode creation engine. Fallout 4 was astonishing, wrapping up tons of games into one, allowing you to rebuild society, customize your guns, and even raise your own pet. Both of these games took up more than half of the press conference put together! Dishonored 2 also looks great, and aside from a few lulls in the middle where Bethesda talked about concept art or mobile games, I hung on their every word.

Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft struck a powerful blow this E3 with their big announcement of backward compatibility for the Xbox One. Out of nowhere, now everyone can play their Xbox 360 titles (at least, once they’re officially converted) on the Xbox One no problem. They even said they wouldn’t make you pay for games you already own, a dig on Sony’s PlayStation Now service. Add to this a competent lineup of games including Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Forza 6, and it looked like this was going to be the best press conference of the convention this year, until…

Sony

Sony

Sony was the most powerful and consistent press conference I saw this year. Why? Games. They never took the focus off the games. It was just one new massive title after the next, coming at you at rapid speed. We saw more Star Wars Battlefront, the debut of the Final Fantasy VII remake, the unveiling of Shenmue 3, two new characters for Street Fighter V, yet more No Man’s Sky gameplay, Uncharted 4, and The Last Guardian even showed up, and that’s just a fraction of what Sony has to offer. It’s these things, mythical things, like The Last Guardian and the Final Fantasy remake, that made Sony the press conference to see. Most of what they showed were things we joked about as announcements that would “never happen” at E3, and yet they made our dreams come true.

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