Summer Game Fest (2023)

It’s officially Summer, which means E3 is just around the corner…. Oh, nevermind. E3 is officially dead. It looks like Geoff Keighly has finally taken over Video Game press events and the new ramshackled event season where every publisher puts out their own press conferences and digital videos showcasing the their products that will maybe possibly come out in the next 12-24 months, or never to be heard from again after a great fake CGI trailer. Either way, It’s officially Fake E3 time, and kicking it off is Geoff’s Summer Game Fest.

Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown - ETA: January 18th 2024

The first thing showed off was a side scrolling exploration game with Prince of Persia, or at least that’s what it looks like. The mobile game visual style coupled with modern trash rap immediately put me off of the game, but as with anything Prince of Persia related, I’m willing to give this a chance. It being a “metroid-vania” seems like a smart choice, and as long as it doesn’t dip too deep into modern Ubisoft appealing to propaganda pushing agendas… I’m really looking forward to it. It really wasn’t a very good trailer though, like I said the modern rap music did not fit the franchise’s ambient ancient Persian theme well at all. And modern deadlocked hipster Prince is not what I want to see. But, I’ll give them the benefit of doubt that the game will be a fun one, since I recently got super into the Metroid and Castlevania series.

Mortal Kombat 1 - ETA: September 19th 2023

I’m extremely bad at fighting games, but just like the closer said “it’s in our blood”. I’ve been playing the series since it’s first game back 31 years ago in 1992. I’ll always give each game the old “College Try” at least, even if that means dropping the game down to easy just to play through the story. Because even if it’s too convoluted for it’s own good, I still enjoy seeing these characters and their continuation throughout all the morphing and reboots of the franchise over the years. While showing off the game, it looked as great as it always does and the brutal X-ray and Fatalities are always both grotesque and satisfying.

One thing I would like to see though, is a bit more realism in the way of damage to a body over the course of a fight. When the X-Ray specials show up, allowing people’s spines to be snapped in half, or faces cut in twain… They get right back up and brush off the move like nothing happened. I’d like to see those moves “mean something” in a way, where if you do a devastating move, it is reflected for the rest of the fight. Which means those specials would not be able to be done as much or would have to be toned down or built up to do devastating damage. Something along the lines of Bushido Blade, where if someone gets stabbed, they show it as they move. If they get sliced in the leg, they limp and have less mobility, as It’s felt throughout the rest of the battle.

Sonic SuperStars - ETA: Fall 2023

I’m a sucker for Sonic games, but I fully understand that modern Sonic is not created for someone in their late 30’s like I am. It’s made for kids, and it’s why Sonic games are mostly looked down on. However, since 2017, there has been a bigger push to allow the people who grew up with the original games to actually develop new entries for Sega, with a focus going back to the fast paced 2D side scrolling games. Sonic Mania proved that good Sonic games can still be made and enjoyed. This looks like a continuation of using the original 4 Sonic characters, and creating new games that look like “modern” versions of the same style more people want. I’m really excited to play this and hope it turns out well.

Lies Of P - ETA: September 19th 2023 (Steam says August 1st)

Another Souls game… I’m tired of the same canned animations of pushing open double doors with both arms and the same tired idle stance, along with the drab gray dark environments and the exact same formula for each and every single one of these games. I would write this game off here and now if I didn’t actually enjoy Elden Ring last year though. Not only that, but the Pinocchio setting and the atmosphere of the game, pulling inspiration from things like 1920’s art and steampunk gives it a similar feeling of Bioshock Infinite, which I loved. This trailer did more to entice me to actually try the demo out more than anything else could have been written about it. Depending on how the demo goes, I actually might get this game upon release. Whatever the case… I’m actually interested in it now. Side note; this has to be one of those instances like Volcano/Dante’s Peak, or Armageddon/Deep Impact… because Pinochion has had 3 different films released last year and now a video games… It’s odd.

Alan Wake II - ETA: October 17th 2023

I already know I’m going to play this game. I loved the original Alan Wake, even though I’m a big wuss when it comes to scary games, but the quaint town and premise of a writer being trapped was too strong a pull for me to ignore back on the Xbox 360. Once I played it, I devoured it. I couldn’t get enough of the game, and living in a small mountain town called Twin Peaks at the time, I felt a sort of connection with the eerie setting as I played the game at 2am in pitch black dark in my cabin alone in the dead of winter. The story being split between two characters might not be what I actually want, but Remedy has more than enough good will built up over their record of releases, along with actually making all their games in a connected universe to follow them down this path. Anything that has Max Payne in it… I’m all for.

Spider-Man 2 - ETA: October 20th 2023

Another game I already know I’m going to play. As much as I can’t stand the Marvel machine at this point, with not only the bastardisation of characters pushing political agendas and propaganda, but the churning out of formalic movie after movie with the same millennial hipster garbage dialog.. I can’t stand it anymore. But Spider-Man has consistently been a solid character, and I’ve enjoyed most of the games the character has been associated with, going back to Arcade’s Revenge and Maximum Carnage. This is why I bought the PS5, and I’ll be happy to dust if off finally in the fall for a game that I know I’ll enjoy.

Under The Waves - ETA: August 29th 2023

I don’t know much about this, but I am fascinated with the ocean and there is surprisingly few games that deal with scuba and exploration of the majority of our own planet, I really am interested in this smaller indie title.

Twisted Metal (TV Show) - ETA: July 27th 2023

I’m willing to give this a chance, solely based on Will Arnett's voicing Sweet Tooth. Do I actually think it’ll be good? I think it’ll be entertaining enough to watch, but I doubt it’ll be a larger game-to-show quality like The Last Of Us. I think it’ll stay in the realm of “this is fine but not amazing”, but honestly, I don’t know what I would want out of a Twisted Metal TV show, it seems like a fairly weird concept to begin with to make a show out of, but I’m at least curious enough to watch it to find out. I don’t know if I like the clip they chose to show off, as Sweet Tooth seems deranged, but it also seems very in line with the modern Marvel irreverent dialog that I despise so much.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2/Rebirth - ETA: “Early 2024”

Well.. it seems like they did actually make the second part of this Remake that is nearing 10 years in the making. I never played more than an hour of the original, and only played two hours of the remake a few years ago, and I know I will refuse to buy it on PS5 when it will eventually come to PC a couple years from now… so I guess I’ll just have to wait longer, which I’m fine with, since I really don’t care about Final Fantasy at all. But I am curious about playing it when there is downtime at some point, and the game does look really nice, but boy I just really hate JRPGs. I’m glad they went with the real time combat at least. It’s also laughable they are advertising it coming on “2 discs”.

So that was Summer Game Fest, our new version of E3… to say it was underwhelming would be a GIGANTIC understatement. Sure we have Microsoft showing off some Xbox stuff this weekend, but man.. While this year is a deluge of games that are coming out, any new announcements are absolutely dismal. This is why E3 is needed, having most publishers put out their own stuff is just going to get lost in the gigantic wave of lower known streams. I didn’t even know this Summer Game Fest was happening until 30 minutes into the stream. It just goes to show why E3 is not only relevant, but needed. It can come back, and I hope it does, because man… This stream kinda sucked the fun outta the Summer calendar.