After having seen each major conference, I have to say, every single company showed its audience exactly what it asked for (yes, let us ignore the illusive The Last Guardian) and has given gamers a reason to be excited for the foreseeable future. How they did this was by promising flagship properties like Halo, Uncharted, Zelda and everything in-between while meanwhile EA and Ubisoft reminded us that there is no way of forgetting games like Battlefield, Mass Effect, The Crew and Rainbow Six.

These titles are what excited the masses. This is what I want. If these products can deliver according to their potential then we will have truly traveled into the realm of next-gen gaming. It is true that with this new generation of consoles the focus as well as the breadth of games has been largely indie thus far. This is perfectly fine, but the reality is that it is not what moves console sales to the record numbers we have been seeing. Likewise the AAA games we have seen on these platforms have received mediocre critical response at best. The average gamer is still in waiting for a true next-gen Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty. And after a promising E3 they are reassured that these expectations will, in fact, become reality.

I should stress that there is already an immense catalog of games for those of us that are interested in smaller titles. Perhaps this period has even garnered a greater appreciation for the indie scene among the more casual, or less informed gamers. E3 in many ways acted as a buffer in a time when people began to grow weary of the selection on their consoles. For those looking for a AAA, big budget experience, E3 reminded us that they are well on their way.

5 Thoughts:

1. Playdead Studios’ new game Inside looks unbelievably cool. It’s strange because it’s almost exactly what you’d imagine if you were to fuse Limbo with some strange zombie-like dystopian world and then even better. The eerie tone and mesmerizing visuals easily make it one of my most anticipated games coming out of E3 2014.

2. How do you do it Bungie, I can’t figure it out. Since its reveal, Destiny had always carried a strong sense of mediocrity with it in my eyes. No longer is this the case. After seeing some E3 trailers and preview videos, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hyped. I just can’t wait to lose myself in your robust online system with my friends.

3. Sony’s press conference was looking like a winner my eyes until they went from 100 to 0 in a matter of seconds. All of this talk of the Playstation TV and Powers in the middle of their presentation just completely annihilated their momentum. What’s more surprising is that no one revised the script and went:”You know what, maybe people won’t want to spend 30 minutes listening to boring information that they would otherwise skim over in an online news site” I’m not speaking to the niche market here or the die-hard fans. This could have severely hurt their attempt to build a connection with viewers that had less invested interest in E3. Although they recovered afterwards, I feel that in the end, they had a slightly weaker conference than Microsoft and Nintendo.

4. No focus on peripherals. Yes!

5. Tom Clancy’s: The Division makes me nervous. I want it to succeed, and after it’s reveal last year I was completely hyped. But the games inability to really produce new and differing content from what we saw last year makes me wonder if the game has much more to offer. I’m not sold on it yet and need to see more before I can get as excited as I was last year. At the same time, Destiny reminded me that you can’t count a game out until you’ve seen the finished product.