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Gotta admit, the more I see of these game shows in the last couple of years, the less I know who they are aimed at

cormack12

Gold Member
Like most of you here, I've been severely underwhelmed with most, if not all, of the shows recently. I think the lack of true audiences let them just get away with mediocre shit.

The thing is I don't know who they think watch these streams?

It's not the casuals - so lord knows why there are games like Riders Republic etc. being shown?
It's not the pre-commercials before a movie - so why show media/movie/tv plugs?
It is the hardcore/enthusiast - so why show so much cgi bullshit?

All the big titles we actually want updates on we get nothing. They don't even have to show us anything just an update would be nice.
 

hybrid_birth

Gold Member
Confused Ryan Gosling GIF
 

Fredrik

Member
Riders Republic looked awesome imo, probably my favorite game so far, looked fun! And while the Devolver Digital show was crazy I really liked Death’s Door and Trek to Yomi. And Mario Rabbids looked promising as well. Hard to say what the Avatar game is from that trailer but the potential is definitely there with that engine and that world and Ubisoft’s experience in all the genres they touch, could be amazing.

So I don’t know, I can’t relate to the negativity. Didn’t see anything live though. But sure, more focus on actual gameplay would be nice.
 

Pejo

Member
It's been very hard to find good gameplay videos of almost any of the games revealed today. What's worse, when I did find a gameplay video, they were awful. Gaming is in the toilet right now, IMO. I don't know if COVID is to blame or what, but they should have just skipped this E3 too.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Feels like any nob head came make the same generic looking shite game and get it promoted at these shows. I’ve only watched the one the other night for the Elden Ring trailer, but there was so much shovel ware I was speechless. Give me a conference with 5 quality games any day with a 10 minute segment each rather than filled out with dog shit.
 
The thing is I don't know who they think watch these streams?

It's not the casuals - so lord knows why there are games like Riders Republic etc. being shown?
It's not the pre-commercials before a movie - so why show media/movie/tv plugs?
It is the hardcore/enthusiast - so why show so much cgi bullshit?
It's neither hardcore gamers nor casuals. E3 is a trade show first and foremost, and the content shown there is aimed primarily at stockholders, investors and retailers.
 
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cormack12

Gold Member
You seem to be under the impression that only people like you watch these shows, which isn’t true at all.

besides that, just because you don’t like what is being shown doesn’t mean it’s bad or that everyone else didn’t like it.

200.gif


I feel like the shows have just lost all heart and passion. We just get a load of community managers and suits giving us presentations from marketing and PR to push IPs that we're not watching for. The only two moments that actually felt like proper event moments for me were Elden Ring and Avatar (edit: And BF2042 actually). It's like going to a concert and your warm up acts are on for 90 minutes the act comes out and blasts out a new song from the album and a classic then gets off.
 
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Robb

Gold Member
I agree to some extent, but I'm hoping all this filler is just a result of covid19 and companies feeling that they need to add more to their presentations.

Announcing a single skin for a game and straight up just showing updated character models and nothing else for another is just very very strange to me. Not to mention Ubisoft starting to show movie trailers of all things.

I have no idea what they were thinking with that stuff.
 
Look at the difference in personalities, reveals and pure joy from even 2017 man
I mean, we're still in a pandemic. You're not gonna get giant venues full of people watching gaming execs from multiple different countries share a stage while four clowns sit on a couch together and provide commentary.

Besides, your original post was mainly about the abundance of casual games and CGI trailers being shown, as opposed to gameplay footage of big-budget "hardcore" games, and that was as true back in 2017 as it is now. Bullshots and trailers with little to no gameplay have been a staple at these events for ages, and that's simply a result of their actual purpose: to convince a bunch of guys in suits who don't even play games that there's money to be made by stocking your product or investing into your company.
 
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Flabagast

Member
Yeah it's shit, but then again gamers recently burnt to the ground one of the last big gaming companies that care to tell profound stories with an ambitious if somewhat flawed artistic vision. Gamers deserve all this shovelware because they don't know what they want.

It is a fucking stupid move to fuel so much hate towards CDProjekt in today's videogame landscape where nobody's taking risks. Well, at least you can Far Cry 12 I guess, at least it's got no "bugs"
 

ripeavocado

Banned
Like most of you here, I've been severely underwhelmed with most, if not all, of the shows recently. I think the lack of true audiences let them just get away with mediocre shit.

The thing is I don't know who they think watch these streams?

It's not the casuals - so lord knows why there are games like Riders Republic etc. being shown?
It's not the pre-commercials before a movie - so why show media/movie/tv plugs?
It is the hardcore/enthusiast - so why show so much cgi bullshit?

All the big titles we actually want updates on we get nothing. They don't even have to show us anything just an update would be nice.

Most games these days are aimed at consoomers that are going to play the same game for years and spend a ton of their money in additive micotransactions, presses and so on.

they don’t give a fuck anymore about the hardcore gamers also because we are under extinction threat since the new generations who grow up with fortnite and roblox don’t care about these games.
 

Yoboman

Member
We've probably gotten to the point where the core audience who watch these events isn't the money maker for publishers anymore so they are a bit aimless in who they are speaking to in the events
 
I dont know what's happening either. Sony are the only ones who can pull off a good show but even they have dialled back recently with not being at E3 and no more stage shows. Western publishers are just horrible these days. sometimes it feels like true gaming is dying and we'll be stuck with gaas and shallow multiplayer games in the future.
 
Yeah it's shit, but then again gamers recently burnt to the ground one of the last big gaming companies that care to tell profound stories with an ambitious if somewhat flawed artistic vision. Gamers deserve all this shovelware because they don't know what they want.

It is a fucking stupid move to fuel so much hate towards CDProjekt in today's videogame landscape where nobody's taking risks. Well, at least you can Far Cry 12 I guess, at least it's got no "bugs"
Truth hurts.
 

skneogaf

Member
Any show that has live people talking and trying to make jokes etc is a failure in my eyes. The only way that pleases everyone is trailer after trailer type of showcase.

I'd like to see a poll with examples of different types of shows that we could vote on and hope that these companies take notice.

Also if it was a huge pre recorded trailer showcase then it can be pre uploaded and available at 4k@60fps therefore likely to impress more of us.
 

ACESHIGH

Banned
Indie devs love smelling their own farts. They are shows made for them, by them.

And as there is no alternative, you as a gamer have nothing to do but watch the spectacle of your Hobby's decay.

Just load up retroarch and see the difference in quality and most of all TASTE. Indie devs have no TASTE for the most part. That's the main problem.

For the next 8 years we will have consoles with massive power yet most of the games will continue being throwback 8 bit, artsy platformers with little actual platforming, survival crap, yet more metroidvanias or Unity games with fortnitey graphics.

How are they going to use the hardware. They LL spend less time optimizing. Your super Metroid wannabe will now need an R5 3600 and an RX 580 to run at 60 fps.
 

Shmunter

Member
Yeah, things are looking odd.

Any more estrogen in that Rainbow 6 zombies mode showing and I’d be wearing pink.

There is no way the female player base is even a fraction of males in a gun focused franchise like this. It feels out of place, deliberate, and beyond stupid.

And that blue/green haired game designer, shakes head.
 
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Coolwhhip

Neophyte
Yeah, things are looking odd.

Any more estrogen in that Rainbow 6 zombies mode showing and I’d be wearing pink.

There is no way the female player base is even a fraction of males in a gun focused franchise like this. It feels out of place, deliberate, and beyond stupid.

And that blue/green haired game designer, shakes head.

In the end these corporations want money. I'm sure sooner than later they will figure out this nonsense makes them less money. Right?!

Maybe I should invent a new crypto currency. The Virtuecoin. I can sell millions of these to twitter people and corporations!
 
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I mean, we're still in a pandemic. You're not gonna get giant venues full of people watching gaming execs from multiple different countries share a stage while four clowns sit on a couch together and provide commentary.

Besides, your original post was mainly about the abundance of casual games and CGI trailers being shown, as opposed to gameplay footage of big-budget "hardcore" games, and that was as true back in 2017 as it is now. Bullshots and trailers with little to no gameplay have been a staple at these events for ages, and that's simply a result of their actual purpose: to convince a bunch of guys in suits who don't even play games that there's money to be made by stocking your product or investing into your company.
Wrong bucko. There is no pandemic in America 😁. For legal reasons, that’s sarcasm.
 

Birdo

Banned
They are still chasing that facebook soccer mom demographic that spend billions on Candy Crush.

There is an industry fantasy that there is this untapped audience who want to play "Hardcore" games, but are scared away by smelly teenage males. But there really isn't. They just don't enjoy the same kinds of games.

They need to embrace the fact that the majority of gamers are, and will always be, smelly teenage males, and just lean into it again, like in the 90's.
 

Tsukumo

Member
Like most of you here, I've been severely underwhelmed with most, if not all, of the shows recently. I think the lack of true audiences let them just get away with mediocre shit.

The thing is I don't know who they think watch these streams?

It's not the casuals - so lord knows why there are games like Riders Republic etc. being shown?
It's not the pre-commercials before a movie - so why show media/movie/tv plugs?
It is the hardcore/enthusiast - so why show so much cgi bullshit?

All the big titles we actually want updates on we get nothing. They don't even have to show us anything just an update would be nice.
They (all of them) are trying to find a way to pull in the people who play almost exclusively on phones. The amount of normies/NPCs who waste their lives on candy crush cannot be ignored.
 
I dont know what's happening either. Sony are the only ones who can pull off a good show but even they have dialled back recently with not being at E3 and no more stage shows. Western publishers are just horrible these days. sometimes it feels like true gaming is dying and we'll be stuck with gaas and shallow multiplayer games in the future.
Take a good look around.

It's not just games that becoming "As a service". Everything is. Housing as a service, cars as a service. No doubt we'll soon have appliances as a service.
Ownership is dying, because corporations and economists have figured out that customers owning things is bad for business. At first they combatted this with planned obsolescence. Now they've scrapped the ownership model entirely. You don't purchase anything any more. You rent a licence for something.

Economics is fucked.
 
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Coolwhhip

Neophyte
The best approach is to miss the show and go to your favorite gaming news site about 30 minutes after, you'll get all the news and parsed in a much more palatable manner(sans cringe).

Indeed. In the past I could watch these live streams and actually enjoy the cringe. But they are just annoying to watch now.
 

KAL2006

Banned
Nowadays I only watch the conferences from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. I don't watch 3rd party conferences I usually just check the trailers out after conference is over on YouTube. I've been doing this for years.
 

Nickolaidas

Banned
Nowadays I only watch the conferences from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. I don't watch 3rd party conferences I usually just check the trailers out after conference is over on YouTube. I've been doing this for years.
I watched the entire Ubisoft conference and I felt I gave up a piece of my soul.

I skimmed all the Devolver Digital trailers in 3 minutes, wishlisted the ones that sparked my interest on Steam and felt I won a few extra hours of sleep.

I think conferences aren't worth staying up late (if they are streamed after midnight), but they can be ok if it's the middle of the day and you don't have anything better to do.

That said, sometimes the cringe from the devs/presenters can be a bit too much to bear.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Yeah, things are looking odd.

Any more estrogen in that Rainbow 6 zombies mode showing and I’d be wearing pink.

There is no way the female player base is even a fraction of males in a gun focused franchise like this. It feels out of place, deliberate, and beyond stupid.

And that blue/green haired game designer, shakes head.

Given all the issues Ubi had over the last year or so it's no surprise their show was virtue signaling up the wazoo.

You could feel the checkboxes getting ticked.
 

Woopah

Member
Its the way the Industry has changed. Two decades ago it was entirely focused on releasing packaged products, so shows had many new announcements.

Now games are much more expensive to make, so companies release much fewer games and monetize them with subscriptions, DLC etc. This fundamentally changes how games are marketed.

My biggest takeaway from this year is that we won't see any of these games at next year's show except Avatar.

They played it super safe and that means they will have some surprises for the next one.
Given the amount of already released games in this show, I wouldn't be so sure.
I think it's a combination of the awkward nerds that work in the gaming industry, DIVERSITY hires (blue hair chicks) and slick marketing firms. Then you get this freak show aimed at a non existing target audience.
Judging a developer's abilities based on their gender or hair colour is exactly the sort of thing diversity is meant to address.
 
There‘s been a tone shift in gaming media/marketing the last few years. It’s been building and spreading but it’s finally reaching its apex. It’s the influence of social justice that “sounds good” on paper but kills creativity because the best art is done when people are total fascists about their work. The more checkboxes you force onto people the more everything starts to blend together and you end up with a product that doesn’t feel like it’s for anyone in particular.
 

Animagic

Banned
Like most of you here, I've been severely underwhelmed with most, if not all, of the shows recently. I think the lack of true audiences let them just get away with mediocre shit.

The thing is I don't know who they think watch these streams?

It's not the casuals - so lord knows why there are games like Riders Republic etc. being shown?
It's not the pre-commercials before a movie - so why show media/movie/tv plugs?
It is the hardcore/enthusiast - so why show so much cgi bullshit?

All the big titles we actually want updates on we get nothing. They don't even have to show us anything just an update would be nice.
Riders Republic looked awesome.
The industry is bigger than Hollywood so there are a lot of tastes to cater to. I imagine they spend a lot of time trying to narrow down which piece of the massive market is watching E3.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
Yeah, things are looking odd.

Any more estrogen in that Rainbow 6 zombies mode showing and I’d be wearing pink.

There is no way the female player base is even a fraction of males in a gun focused franchise like this. It feels out of place, deliberate, and beyond stupid.

This is the bit that does my head in. I’m all for more games aimed at different people, featuring characters they can identify with. Let’s have a shed load more of them, no issues with that.

But for the love of god, shooty shooty bang bang games are predominantly enjoyed by men.

Why are they obsessed with trying to be inclusive in every game, even when that kind of game clearly has a very defined audience?

Do they think that many women want to play Rainbow fucking Six?

Its okay for men and women to enjoy different things. But Ubisoft can’t be fucking arsed to make original games that women might actually enjoy, so they have to fuck up the stuff they’re already making, chasing an audience that isn’t there.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
This is the bit that does my head in. I’m all for more games aimed at different people, featuring characters they can identify with. Let’s have a shed load more of them, no issues with that.

But for the love of god, shooty shooty bang bang games are predominantly enjoyed by men.

Why are they obsessed with trying to be inclusive in every game, even when that kind of game clearly has a very defined audience?

Do they think that many women want to play Rainbow fucking Six?

Its okay for men and women to enjoy different things. But Ubisoft can’t be fucking arsed to make original games that women might actually enjoy, so they have to fuck up the stuff they’re already making, chasing an audience that isn’t there.

Because there's a very small but VERY vocal and toxic minority on Twitter that literally goes around counting how many men/women and what skin colors your game features and will drag your ass and your entire family's ass through the digital mud to hold that against you.

So you're better off pandering to that vocal minority and in the meantime just praying to god that your actual fans who actually buy and play your games don't get turned off in the process.
 
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Everything should be Nintendo Direct/State of Play style of minimum to no talking heads/voices and just let the games do the talking.

Enough with this cringy ass shit, i didn't watch any show and i won't, I'll just go to Gematsu an hour later and find the announcements cringe free and will digest them in a couple of minutes instead of HOURS of mindless drivel.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Yeah, things are looking odd.

Any more estrogen in that Rainbow 6 zombies mode showing and I’d be wearing pink.

There is no way the female player base is even a fraction of males in a gun focused franchise like this. It feels out of place, deliberate, and beyond stupid.

And that blue/green haired game designer, shakes head.

Felt like they were filling the diversity quata.
 
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