Every year I try to get my self excited about watching the gaming summer shows , what use to be E3. This year honestly I just couldn’t. I tried watching a few minutes of both the Sony and Summer Games fest and felt bored. I’m sure a lot of these games these they show will be great. But the way the present most of them honestly doesn’t engage me in the slightest.
Sometimes you get a cinematic trailer that shows no gameplay sometimes (mostimes) you get just gameplay with no context.
I feel like the presentation format doesn’t work for games not anymore anyway. I feel like just setting up a YouTube channel or a playlist with game logos , descriptions and back stories with a small trailer would work so much better.
Unlike E3 this SGF is a Geoff cash grab where most larger companies seldom take part. Outside of new hardware I don’t see the need for this no context trailer barrage.
Maybe I’m just out of touch maybe I’m just insane. Thoughts ?
Do you remember what E3 presentations used to be? Go back to 2006 and watch one straight through. Or even 2016. Lots of slides about how great the presenter’s company was, live demos that didn’t work; for about 2 hours that felt like 4, with far fewer games shown in the same amount of time as today. That’s not to say this is objectively better, or that it’s always good, but it’s how we arrived here. Compared to 20 years ago, I also have so many different ways to cut advertisements out of my life entirely that this and the Game Awards are basically the only times I seek them out. And it’s not just Geoff’s show; take a look at the Steam “showcase of showcases” page, and you’ll see all of the other little events tied around this time of year, too, often with demos available for us to play.
I do remember and I’m also definitely not going to say those were better days. I just think given what we can do now I believe most of the current formats could do with some change. I like Steam NextFest I think some alterations there even for just more trailers could be a truly special experience.
Just can’t over do it with crap like NextFest can do at times …