E3 2017 has come and gone. We had some exciting titles, some major announcements and some pretty piss-poor efforts. In our latest podcast, the Two Honest Guys break down what was good, what was bad, and what was just plain terrible.

If you don’t have time to listen, here is a quick rundown of what we chat about.

The Winners

Let’s save the worst ’til last and get up and running with the winners of E3 2017. With some awesome looking games on offer here is our first, and overall, winner of the expo.

Nintendo:

Nintendo did a great job of getting us excited at E3 2017, despite only bringing a couple of major titles to the table.

Mario Odyssey is looking fantastic. The new game play mechanics bring with it some exciting elements we haven’t seen in a 3D Mario game before, while the styling really hits home in terms of nostalgia. It’s a great thing to see, a new Mario game that ticks all the boxes in terms of bringing something new while keeping what we love.

We also got an announcement of a new Kirby game, which Ryan is very much looking forward to, and two new Metroid titles. Add to that another Pokemon game, a new Yoshi game and some Breath of the Wild DLC, and you’ve got the recipe for a winning E3 conference event.

EA:

EA aren’t exactly a favourite with the fans. They’ve been known to be a bit greedy and ruthless at times, but at this E3 they definitely bought plenty to get excited about.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is looking epic, and with the introduction of all the new features, could rival many of the other FPSs hitting in 2017.

Their sports titles, FIFA and NBA, also continue to impress. The story mode in FIFA is being continued, which is great to see, as it was a huge fan favourite, and the new NBA Live control system looks incredible — if not a little tough to master.

They also brought us Anthem, which looks to be a slick and immersive third-person shooter. I am slightly worried it might turn out to be something quite generic if not handled correctly, although Ryan is very confident it’ll be something well worth the money — providing the gameplay we got wasn’t a publicity lie.

We forgot to mention A Way Out in the podcast, but that’s another win for EA. Local co-op games seem to be a dying breed, so we’re very happy to see a game that focuses entirely on that style of gameplay.

Overall, we loved what we saw from EA, so it was a definite winner in our books.

Contested

At Two Honest Guys, we are all about frank and honest opinions. Sometimes though, those opinions are so frank and honest that we don’t bloody agree with each other. At this E3 2017, there were two studios we very much disagreed on.

Microsoft:

So Ryan is in love with the new Xbox One X, but then he’s a gamer who will buy anything, at whatever price, to get the best. As a self-professed casual gamer, I don’t really see the appeal of this new console, at least, not for the price.

At £450, it is a grossly expensive version of a console we already have. Yes it has 4K Gaming, but I don’t think the upgrades are enough to justify the purchase just yet, especially when you can play the same games on the same systems for £200 less. Let’s not forget, 4K TVs are in all homes just yet either. I also don’t think it’s good enough to steal people away from the PS4 Pro, since Microsoft is definitely losing the console war and the battle for the best exclusives.

But Ryan does have his points. For those who really invest in the gaming experience, there will be nothing better in console gaming than the Xbox One X. It is superior to the PS4 Pro in a number of ways and could easily tempt over hardcore gamers and anyone else who loves to engorge themselves in the visual of gaming. This console also rivals many high-end PCs, which could bring another bit of the gaming community over to Microsoft’s side.
There is definitely a market for this console, but will it be the market Microsoft are hoping for? We’ll find out soon enough.

Ubisoft:

So Ubisoft have brought us some interesting titles at E3 2017. At least, I thought so.
As an Assassin’s Creed fan, I’m very much looking forward to the new game and the innovations in mechanic it brings. We’ve also got Skull and Bones out of them, which basically looks like the ship battles from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag turned into a game of its own, which is no bad thing.

The studio also announced Beyond Good and Evil 2, which Ryan was excited about. I had no idea what it was. And we got more in the way of Far Cry 5 and a brilliant little trailer and announcement for the Mario/Rabbids crossover.

Ryan wasn’t particularly impressed with anything other than Good and Evil, so gave Ubisoft a thumbs down. I, on the other hand, am definitely game for everything they brought to the table, so they sit here in contested territory.

Losers

So here we are, the dregs of E3 2017. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know who is up on the chopping block for the worst performers. So sit back, relax and enjoy as we bash some of your favourite studios and games.

Bethesda:

Oh, Bethesda. Our Biggest Loser of E3 2017.

Yes, Skyrim is great. Fallout 4 was alright. Doom was good I guess. Have you got anything else for us? Wolfenstein? Okay great, what else?

Oh. That’s it.

Bethesda is definitely the smallest studio showing at E3 this year, and it really showed. They had very little of substance to give us, other than slight improvements on previous titles. Granted Wolfenstein looks good, but it didn’t really give us a whole lot to get excited for just yet. And let’s face it, it isn’t the biggest franchise in the gaming world.

The main problem with Bethesda is that they continue to recycle instead of investing in new titles. Yeah, Skyrim was great all those years ago, but it lacks major replay-ability and really isn’t much of a reason to buy a Switch.

A poor showing this year, Bethesda.

Sony:

Now onto our biggest loser of E3 2017.

Wait? Wasn’t that Bethesda? Well, now it’s Sony.
We were expecting big things from Sony, announcements on a number of titles and upcoming projects. Instead, we got a couple of generic looking games and some rehashes. They tried to push VR again too, but the titles were similarly lacklustre.

We got some looks at games we already knew plenty about, some vague dates and some non-existent ones too. Spider-Man looks pretty great, and yeah we all like a good Uncharted, but it was all a bit dry. Not much to get excited for, especially compared to other developers.
Sony just didn’t bring its A-game to this year’s expo. Or it’s B game or even its C game.

E3 Itself:

Finally, we come to the biggest loser at E3 2017.

Yes, we’ve changed it up again. This year, all hail the king of the gaming fails, E3 itself.
E3 2017 made it painfully obvious that developers just don’t care for the conference anymore. The whole thing has just become a live-streaming event for the masses, showcasing trailers and gameplay for the consumers.

With the increasing accessibility of online media, studios just don’t care about E3 announcements when you can get just as much, or more buzz, by announcing things separately.

This press event is dying. Given the lack of content brought forward by most studios and a shift away from a full on conferences and just some enticing gameplay clips, it is pretty clear to see.

E3 is becoming obsolete, studios just don’t need it anymore. Does that mean it’ll die? No. We think it’ll become a bit more like comic-con. A fan event, where you can get some juicy details, but not somewhere you expect to hear the biggest and best innovations in the industry.

Looking for more gaming news from 2017? Two Honest Guys has got you covered!

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