E3 2012: Best of - Nominees

Just a list of my favourite games from E3, sorted into a number of different categories that I found interesting and that I hope you do too.  

Best Original Game/New IP

The Last of Us

Beyond: Two Souls

ZombiU

Watch_Dogs

Star Wars 1313

Best Xbox 360 Exclusive

Halo 4

Fable: The Journey

Gears of War: Judgment

Forza: Horizon

DBZ: Kinect

Best Wii U Exclusive

Nintendo Land

ZombiU

Project P100

New Super Mario Bros. U

Rayman: Legends

Best PS3 Exclusive

Beyond: Two Souls

God of War: Ascension

PlayStation All-Stars

The Last of Us

Dust 514

Best Handheld Game

Assassin’s Creed Liberation

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Soul Sacrifice

New Super Mario Bros. 2

Best Downloadable Game

Quantum Conundrum

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Dawnguard

Hawken

Unfinished Swan

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD

Best Surprise

Splinter Cell: Black List

Star Wars 1313

Beyond: Two Souls

Watch_Dogs

Dead Space 3 can remain a solitary experience 

Best Open World Game

Forza: Horizon

Need for Speed: Most wanted

Sleeping Dogs

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Dawnguard

FarCry 3

Best Racing Game

Forza: Horizon

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

F1 2012

Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed

Little Big Planet Karting

Best Fighting Game

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Dead or Alive 5

PlayStation All-Stars

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Persona 4 Arena

Best Use of Motion Control

Fable: The Journey

Dance Central 3

Dragon Ball Z: Kinect

Wonderbook

The Avengers: Battle for Earth

Best 3^rd Person Shooter

Gears of War: Judgment

Resident Evil 6

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Dead Space 3

Spec Ops: The Line

Best MMO

Defiance

RaiderZ

The Elder Scrolls Online

Dust514

PlanetSide 2

Best RPG

Fable: The Journey

Ni No Kuni

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Dawnguard

The Elder Scrolls Online

RaiderZ

Best Action Adventure

The Last of Us

Tomb Raider

Assassin’s Creed 3

Beyond: Two Souls

Splinter Cell: Black List

Best FPS

Halo 4

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

FarCry 3

Borderlands 2

Crysis 3

Best Multiplayer

Halo 4

Gears of War: Judgment

Splinter Cell: Black List

Resident Evil 6

Dead or Alive 5

Best Trailer

Halo 4

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Assassin's Creed 3

Unreal Engine 4

Luminous Engine

Biggest Disappointment

Ryse was absent

Respawn didn’t unveiled their game

Fortnite was a no show

Nothing new from Kojima

The rush to ‘Second Screen’

Game of Show

Halo 4

The Last of Us

Assassin’s Creed 3

Tomb Raider

Beyond: Two Souls

Be sure to let me know what you think of these games and this list below in the comments. Also come back next week for a list of what I felt were the standouts of each category.

Weekly Wrap Up: June 26

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            Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear series, has confirmed that Metal Gear Solid 5 is currently in development and will be using Kojima Games’s new Fox Engine.  Nothing else is known about the project other than that Kojima has previously pitched the idea of a game featuring Big Boss in WWII.  Whether this game will star Big Boss or Solid Snake is anybody’s guess, I mean they didn’t kill off Snake for a reason after all.

Because portable means bigger

            Nintendo has unveiled their inevitable redesign for the 3DS.  The 3DS XL will arrive in Japan for 18,900 Yen & Europe for 179.99 EU on July 28 and in North America for $199.99 US on August 19.  The 3DS XL will be 2cm (0.8inches) wider and 3.5cm (1.4inchs) taller when opened fully.  Personally I don’t see the point in have an XL version of a portable game console, but it might have been justified if they were going to use the extra space to put in a second thumbpad.  Unfortunately they didn’t and I have no idea why.  Also the DSi XL was made so that people could kind of gather around their friend who was playing and watch, but if you aren’t at the right angle, which onlookers won’t be, the 3D doesn’t work and the screen looks bad.   

Namco Bandi’s All-Star team

            The new Super Smash Bros. game in the works for the Wii U and 3DS is being developed by Namco Bandi.  The creator of the Smash Bros. series is still overseeing the project but its development lies in the hands of Namco Bandi.  Luckily the company has compiled a team of their best designers to make sure that they do the series justice.  Personally I’m not too worried about this since the basic mechanics and design of Smash Bros. has been nailed down, meaning they can’t really screw it up to much. The real question is whether they can make it the best one yet.   

Dragon’s Dogma climbs the charts

            Capcom’s latest new IP has paid off; Dragon’s Dogma sold over 330,000 copies in Japan in its first week, giving it the highest first week sales record in Japan for a new IP in the past 10 years!  In its first month the game managed to ship 1 million copies worldwide and thus Capcom now considers Dragon’s Dogma as one of its ‘major franchises’.  So if you were a fan of the game then you are in luck because there will definitely be at least one follow up down the line.  I’m really glad that it worked out for Capcom, it is always nice when a new IP succeeds.   

FarCry 3 months back

            FarCry 3 was supposed to come out on September 4^th in NA and September 6^th in EU.  Now the game has been delayed and curiously Europe will end up getting it first.  The new release dates are December 4^th in NA and November 29^th in EU.  The game was looking good at E3, so I am a little surprised to see it pushed back three months, practically to the end of the year.  Not sure how smart the new release date is since the two biggest shooters of the year, Halo 4 & Black Ops 2, are coming out just weeks before hand.

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