E3 2011 Day Three Recap

by Matt Miller on Jun 08, 2011 at 04:45 PM

New game reveals, hands-on previews, and trailers keep rolling in. Plus, we get show analysis from our editors on the E3 floor. Check here for everything you missed in the last 24 hours.

Between all the press conferences on Day One and the opening of the show floor on Day Two, there has already been a lot of news out of this year's E3. However, the show continues to move forward, and exciting new developments keep coming as our editors wander the show floor. At the same time, we're beginning to get a broader sense of the show. What is the buzz on the floor? What are people excited about?

Unsurprisingly, opinions on the Wii U are all over the place. Few are praising the choice of name, but then again, few industry analysts were enthusiastic about the original Wii name when it was announced. On the technology side, there's marginally more enthusiasm. Game Informer executive editor Andrew Reiner is impressed by the concept, but thinks the whole picture of what the Wii U exactly is just hasn't come together at the show. "I really don't understand it. Everyone is really confused as to what it is," he said. "There's no real point of connection with gamers." A lot of that sentiment is no doubt due to the lack of any real games for the system, even if there are some interesting tech demos, such as the Battle Mii prototype our editors played.

Senior editor Matt Helgeson agrees: "I think it was a really huge mistake to not show a real game. I think they should have come out with a strong first-party title that was exclusive to Wii U. The general vibe I get on Wii U is kind of 'wait and see.'" Even so, Helgeson liked the controller, and, surprisingly, thought it felt relatively comfortable in his hands, despite its size.

Meanwhile, buzz on the PlayStation Vita continues to grow, fueled by positive comments on the affordable price tag. "A lot of people were worried that it would come out at a $399 price point and it would cut itself off at the knees," Helgeson shared. "You couldn't have expected a better price point, in my opinion."

"Vita is awesome," Reiner added. "It feels like a quality product."

It seems a number of games on the system are getting positive attention as well. Uncharted: Golden Abyss sounds great, and games like Ruin and the announcement of Dragon's Crown prove that the PS3/Vita interoperability is more than an illusion.

[Next up: A bevy of beautiful sequels, and all the newest trailers]

Even as the consoles and handhelds of the future continue to compete for attention, the games of this generation are getting many ringing endorsements, even if there are few big surprises. "It's a little weird for buzz this year because there were so many leaks in advance," Helgeson shared.

Andrew Reiner thinks it is one of the best years for games, even if it's one of the slowest for announcements. "It's the year of the sequels. All these franchises are really stepping forward." Our other editors certainly found sequel dominance to be the case, as they investigated and previewed games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Serious Sam 3: BFE, Torchlight II, Saints Row: The Third, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, and Luigi's Mansion 2.

Other games aren't direct sequels, but derivations from an existing universe or moves to a new system. We saw live video of a brand new Kirby game for the Wii. Space Marine may make for an interesting offshoot of the Warhammer 40K brand, and the same could be said for Dust 514 through a broadening of the Eve Online universe. We're also seeing the continuation of an interesting trend with the God of War and Team Ico remakes.

Even as our editors scoured the show floor, new game trailers continued to flood journalists' email inboxes. We posted new trailers for Ryse, NeverDead, Awesomenauts, Dead Island, Hitman: Absolution, X-Com, Need For Speed: The Run, Star Trek, and Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

There's still one full day of the show left, and our editors report that the show floor continues to be thronged with visitors. There are still dozens more games we hope to check out, so be sure and come back tomorrow to see what they uncover. In the meantime, once again you can check out our Day One Recap and Day Two Recap to get a complete picture of the show so far. And, if you find yourself wishing you were there in person, make sure and explore some photos in our Sights of the Show Day One, and Sights of the Show Day Two galleries.