E3 Update: PS4, Leviathan: Warships Both Winners
Tens of thousands of video game enthusiasts have descended upon the Los Angeles Convention Center this week for E3, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo. Let's take a look at what's happened so far.
Perhaps the biggest news to come out of E3 has been the knock-down, drag-out fight between this year's next-gen gaming consoles, Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. On Monday, both companies took the stage to discuss what their respective consoles would, and also would not, bring to the table.
"If you enjoy playing single-player games offline, PS4 won't require to you check in online, period, and it won't stop working if you haven't authenticated in 24 hours," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America.
That line was a clear shot at the Xbox One, which has the rather irksome requirement of needing to be online once a day in order to work. Furthermore, the Xbox One has very user-unfriendly DRM restrictions in place that will limit players' ability to trade used games. Sony refused to take a similar approach, much to the delight of gamers across the world, who took to social forums such as Reddit to voice their support for the PS4.
There was more than just a next-gen console war at this year's E3, however. Many exciting new games for both the consoles were introduced, priming the audience for what will undoubtedly be a whole new caliber of video game experience.
A new edition of the popular "Star Wars Battlefront" title got a brief introduction at the event, stirring large amounts of anticipation in the gaming community. Another title that received a lot of attention was the sequel to the cult hit "Mirror's Edge," a game that many fans thought would never see a sequel due to the original's poor sales.
This year's announcements ran the gamut from important to downright silly, and to that end, the minds behind "Leviathan: Warships" may have taken the prize for one of the funniest at the event. There had been large public support for in-game narration by Jazz Boatman, who was the voice of the game's previous trailers, and the folks at Paradox delivered.
"In response to popular demand (not that we're slaves to what's popular; just doin' what feels right, you know how it is), today's update brings the sound of a new jazz music soundtrack to the game, along with the silky-smooth vocal gifts of Jazz Boatman, narrator of Leviathan's hit trailers, as a new in-game announcer."