When heavy games are displayed early at events it’s an inevitable eventuality that at least one of them crash. Games that are still getting the kinks worked out and that are still in production can’t be expected to be at 100% however in the case of the Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag demo the crash was nothing short of awkward. The game found itself freezing a fair few times during the live demonstration until it completely crashed causing a disgruntled representative to be ushered off stage and WatchDogs to take the limelight instead. The silence and discomfort in the air was palpable and was one of the more cringe-worthy parts of this years event. A the video below shows the stream of the crash and the audiences reaction.
If you read Monday’s “Best of E3” article you’ll remember the PS4’s price being one of the highlights. With that in mind it’s only logical to brand Xbox One’s steep price of $499/£429/€499 as one of the lows of E3. Not only is it simply quite a large price to pay for something that has so many evident limitations but it’s also $100 more expensive than it’s biggest competitor, the PS4. This example of retail suicide had many in the audience booing and many more simply shaking their heads. Although many Microsoft representatives and fans have come out to defend the higher price margin it’s still obviously too much more to pay for a less powerful and more restricted console, something that can be clearly noted in the hundreds of online polls in which the PS4 is dominating.
Activision worked very hard to try and convince us that Call of Duty Ghosts was next generation and would be leaps and bounds above the previous releases. Unfortunately all the managed to show to validate these points was a heavily rendered hand which had “cuts and bruises” and stated that companionship with the canine character would deliver players a more emotive experience. In short, Ghosts is going to be no different to previous titles except your hands are going to get a bit messed up and you’ll have an Alsatian with you? Smooth Activision, real smooth.
If the price reveal hadn’t caused enough issues the Xbox conference was also riddled with technical issues, namely the audio. There were several instances where the audio for demos and trailers completely cut out leaving the audience with some spectacular footage to view in silence. Battlefield 4 bore the brunt of this technical mishap as it’s entire trailer was left without sound much like Crimson Dragon’s gameplay demonstration was left without sound too. Simple mistakes that cost the credibility of the conference dearly and overshadowed some truly epic next generation titles.
If Xbox hadn’t had a bad enough E3 already representative Don Mattrick decided to just push things over the edge in a backstage interview with Geoff Keighly from GameTrailers. Geoff confronted Mattrick about the 24 hour online rule that has had gamers around the world perplexed to which Mattrick retorted that if you don’t have access to a constant internet connection (I.e. if you live in a nuclear sub?!) then Xbox have an offline games console called the 360 which would suit you fine. In short, a representative of Microsoft at E3 has told the thousands of consumers without an Internet connection that they cannot own an Xbox One, cannot be a part of the next generation and should go and buy a 360? Brilliant marketing. Although Mattricks angle was sincere the solution was in no way acceptable and was ultimately very disrespectful. Here’s the interview below to give you some context to his comments.
What were your worst moments of E3? Do you agree with Mattricks advice? Which console will you be getting on release day? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!