OXCGN’S Pre-E3 Walkthrough

We got here early to take look at some surprises

by AXIS of Reality

©2010 Alex Baldwin

Now that the three of us from OXCGN (Editor in Chief Grant, News Editor Aaron and myself Alex, Features Editor) have all arrived here in Los Angeles for the gaming event of the year, we decided to rock up to the convention centre for an early peek, and registration with Microsoft for their various events.

And it’s a good thing we did too. With numerous posters, banners and booths in the process of being precariously strung across every available surface, a few little secrets and slip through the nets for inquisitive journalists such as ourselves to snatch up. Here’s a few of the rather interesting tidbits we observed:

OXCGN’s initial Observations on Saturday.

• Gran Turismo 5: in the entrance foyer we observed an eye-catching MODIFIED Nissan 370Z sitting alongside some playable official PS3 stands and two Driving Rigs set up with Logitec Force Feedback Wheels.

Although no logos or signs had yet been attached, the PS3 focus and positioning of the stand in the foyer indicate it must be an already-announced PS3-exclusive.

Seeing that it is one of Sony’s iconic and prized driving games, one needs to only put 2 and 2 together and you’ve obviously got GT5.

The most interesting thing was the heavily modded 350Z accompanying it with a carbon-fibre bonnet and obscenely large spoiler, does this indicate GT5 will be following Forza’s modding route?.. It has been ‘rumoured’ that this could be a high possibility.

• Epic Mickey: lining one of the side halls were numerous posters for Epic Mickey, displaying the ink-blot mouse ears we’ve seen before but lacking any naming or mention of platform on the poster. Is there a chance the naming or even platform selection be changing for Mickey?

• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood: definitely the largest we saw, AC: Brotherhood’s monstrous banner easily measuring 50 x 10m across the exterior of the centre was looking very impressive, although it was still laid out flat on the ground as the workers figured out exactly how to get it up there.

• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier: A large banner across the side of a nearby building was being uncovered as we wandered by. No real surprises, but looking good.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops: several large billboards across the sides of buildings around Los Angeles were emblazoned with Treyarch’s latest, all advertising the date of 11.09.10 (November 9th, 2010).

• Bethesda: although many only know Bethesda for the Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 3, the publishers has its handed dipped in a number of interesting titles this year. The doors to the convention centre had small posters up for free-running game Brink and new action game Hunted.

• Rock Band 3: the banner was up in the foyer with the familiar instrument icons, including the previously-seen keyboard.

• Homefront: THQ and Kaos’ new war-based shooter adorned the side hallway, sporting the slogan “Home is where the war is”. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

• UFC Undisputed 2011: new year, new game as you’d expect.

• Red Faction: Armageddon: a huge outdoor banner displayed THQ’s latest in the reboot of the Red Faction franchise, this time throwing out the red and brown colours for blue and black.

• Marvel vs Capcom: these posters are all around LA at bus stops and stating Spring 2011 as the release.

• Mortal Kombat: a new, quite graphic banner is up that appears to echo the style of the video that made it to Youtube.

• Final Fantasy XIV Online:

Now this is interesting. The entrance foyer is dominated by banners and posters of the new Final Fantasy MMO, with one important label absent: the platform. Major exclusives always have the console displayed prominently on the banner, yet FFXIV’s removal of PS3 branding could indicate a potential switch to multiplatform release. We’ll have to wait and see.

• Xbox 360 Branding:

While getting our registration in early with the friendly folks at the Microsoft stand in the foyer, we noticed their badges and logos were missing the now-familiar concentric circles and instead using the multi-layered green wave that has been seen around the internet.

This seems like quite strong evidence Microsoft is looking to rebrand the Xbox 360 with the launch of Natal, not in name but in the public image to pull in a new audience.

Those were some of the things we noticed in our brief walk through the convention centre foyer. We didn’t venture into the actual show floor where the secretive new booths are in construction, but it’s the little details of what we did see that have us wondering on a few fronts.

All we can do is wait, and within the next week all will be answered, starting tonight as the three of us attend Sunday evenings Microsoft Cirque de Soleil Natal event being held over at another private location. OXCGN will be there to report on the event, and high possibility of the Re-Branding of Project Natal.

This of course should not be confused with Microsoft re-branding the Xbox platform as some have hinted at. That would be not viable, nor practical, nor would a whole art direction change be required. The need for continuity is paramount in branding, and MS is too deep into their brand now to change direction.

So we will find that the proposed changes will be inline with the current Xbox Branding ‘style’. But more on that later on Sunday evening after the Cirque de Soleil’s presentation of the new name for Project Natal. Which should be an event to top all events at E3 2010.

It will be televised across the globe through both MTV, GT4TV, and all major news media, and a very very few select number of gaming websites who will be in attendance. OXCGN has been fortunate to be included in that group, and really do appreciate the support it has been shown from the various PR companies running E3 thus far.

©2010 Alex Baldwin

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