It's Thursday, June 5th, 2014.
I'm Ariel Nunez and from our [UNKNOWN] studios in New York City, welcome to the 404.
What's up everyone.
Thanks for tuning into the 404 show, very special episode today because, I am joined by Scott Stein.
Hey.
How are you sir?
I am good.
Good.
Looking forward to go on out to L.A..
Hell yeah.
And that's we are talking about today.
Yeah.
It's, It's our E, annual E3 preview show.
That you and I seem to do every year.
I love this.
Except, except, and last year I even think I did, but last year we had the WWDCE3 head on collision.
Right.
And this year we don't have that.
So.
It was a damn shame because it forced you to miss E3 for like the first time ever.
Yeah, when like, basically every piece of hardware was.
Unveiled.
Because Apple thinks their **** doesn't stink they had to all of a sudden.
Land in front of the biggest video game event of the year.
Well, like Apple had a bunch of announcements there, too.
And it was, it was a really brutal decision to make.
Yeah.
And basically, it had to do what it had to do.
And then as a result, we come in, we caught up with a lot of the hardware events throughout the year.
We did.
For Sony and Xbox.
But, I was pretty bummed.
People think oh, Apple doesn't buy, who cares?
Apple's more important than video games.
Well guess what?
Mortal Kombat X was trending all day on WWDC day.
And guess what wasn't?
WWDC, so there you have it, definitive proof that games are more important than Apple.
That's it.
Alright, you and I we are going out there together on Sunday, this is this is what I think is gonna be a, a very software focused E3, save for perhaps a little taste of Morpheus.
Right.
Sony's Morpheus.
That'll be there again.
Their, their virtual reality helmet.
And see, maybe like are there more plans announced for that-.
Right.
You know, is there a short time frame, cuz right know it's, it's sort of you know an oculus like tech demo where the hardware feels a little more polished at this point, but what is it.
What is this gonna mean?
Right.
Is this coming out anytime soon?
And I would venture to say no.
I would venture to say that too.
And are there going to be any hardware surprises?
I mean, I would, I would think not.
Right.
The only one and I, I would say absolutely no before even saying this the only one that I could see of the big three.
Getting into new hardware at this point would be Nintendo.
But I say no.
But, but just based on time frame, with hardware.
Sure.
Sure.
But no.
So what we'll do today, we'll, we'll, you know, you covered what Microsoft needs to do.
I'm sorry, you covered what Nintendo needs to do at E3.
Which is a lot.
I covered what Microsoft needs to do, and then we'll, I guess we'll, you know, get to Sony afterward.
Nintendo is in a weird spot.
So, maybe we'll like shelve that.
We'll, we'll talk about that after Microsoft and Sony.
Yeah.
Because I really don't think Nintendo is 100% in competition with these guys anymore.
They've kind of made their own bed.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's very deliberate.
And, when you think about it, they made their own bed actually, back with the Wii.
Right.
And the DS too.
It's just that, that.
Time period and what they were doing worked a lot more, just worked a lot better.
Right.
And so, you know, I feel like they've kind of stayed the course in a lot of ways.
But you'll get to them in a sec.
They're all about staying the course.
They are a stay the course company.
Like, it's like, dude, your arms and legs were chopped off, you've lost the, but now.
We're gonna, we're gonna continue.
Yeah.
It's sinking.
You're like no, no, no.
No, this but wa-.
There's like the, there's like post iceberg collision Titanic.
It's like a [UNKNOWN].
And they're like no, that water's just for show, it's fine.
It's flying right towards the mountain, you're like, it's gonna level out.
Yeah, no, it's fine, we're gonna land on that mountain.
It's gonna level out.
We've got, you've got ten seconds.
[LAUGH] Right.
It's cool.
Trust me.
Trust me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Things are looking pretty bleak.
Let's.
Start with Microsoft.
They wrote a few days ago what Microsoft needs to do at E3.
Right.
They are finding themselves in a pretty, I guess you could call it, precarious situation.
They are, I wrote, behind the eight ball, because they failed to.
Really, you know, last, last year's E3 was mostly a mess for them.
They were in the midst of a gigantic PR nightmare.
Yeah they were sort of half way retracting.
Right.
Stuff that happened from that event that was just, what, a month before.
E3 in the first place.
Yeah, things really started to come apart, the wheels come off the, the wagon a little bit.
They had to reverse their always on policy.
They had to reverse their DRM policy.
Yeah.
And they kind of stumbled into E3 saying, we're still the ones you should buy even though it's $100 more, connects the future of gaming.
Fast forward 365 days.
Wow, like this company's done a total 180.
365, 360 or 180.
It's crazy.
I'm trying to make it a 360 joke, it didn't even, there's something in there, it didn't work, it didn't work, can't, can't do it.
Right, a 360 ,180 I like it.
So, so yeah they're in a really weird spot now, right?
Because you have.
Connect it being an [INAUDIBLE] connect is no longer a required piece to the Xbox One puzzle.
Right.
They're selling it unbundled for $400.
Where we were told for months and months and months leading up to the console's release.
That this was a, a tandem that could not be separated.
And you need connect.
It's the future.
It's how you're gonna control your TV in your living room.
And now they're, like, you know what?
People don't necessarily want that.
We're gonna sell it for $400.
[INAUDIBLE].
They're gonna stay competitive.
What do you-.
That's weird.
Now, now that's what they've done.
I personally think this was all gonna be announced on Monday.
And it kinda leaked out and they just had to go.
Because if you are a logical person, you'll see that the starting date for the $400 XBox One is June ninth, the same day as their press conference.
Right.
So, so now that a lot of things are out of the bag.
What are they gonna do on Monday?
Very good question.
[LAUGH].
And they, they also do the announcements about the upcoming, you know, apps, and I think that if you, you choose sides of it.
If you are really using this as like your everything box.
Mm-hm.
Then I think you want all those apps to step up and to really get to the point where this feels super connected with video streaming as possible.
Mm-hm.
It's not really fully there yet.
So there's that, but really I think it's the games.
I think we're really at the point if you, the biggest problem is that you know, Xbox 360 was riding so high was so great as a gaming platform.
Mm-hm.
And that's what made it successful.
What are they gonna do now?
Like there are so few games in past year or half year.
What did they do to show that they're more interesting than a Playstation?
Right.
And, and really just spend, I would feel like as much time as possible focusing on games.
Last year, they really spent like less than half of it, I feel like talking might games are so much about how this would be your media future box.
Sure.
And I feel like they need to, you know, not shelve that.
But like, put it on a really, shelve it on a high shelf.
Put it, like, make it, you make it, like, 10%.
Hm.
Of their entire strategy at E3.
Yeah.
And just flood us with information about games.
What scares me about Microsoft, is that.
Even when they do bring out their go to franchises.
Like your Halos and your Fables and your [UNKNOWN].
I don't, I still don't think those pillars are stronger, or even equal to what Sony seems to have up their sleeve.
Yeah.
So.
This is gonna be an interesting E3 like you said.
It just comes down to the freaking games.
But what are they going, what could they possibly, possibly pull out of their pocket that will surprise and take people.
Because we kind of know, the developer relationships that they already have.
Well there are few things, that either I'd like to see, or would think would be interesting.
One is which is not gonna happen probably.
[LAUGH]
But you look at like Nintendo has a handheld, [UNKNOWN], Nintendo has a handheld, Sony has a handheld, they're not necessarily doing all spectacularly, but what about Microsoft?
In that world.
Like, I don't know if they need a handheld, but I don't know, they have like the second screen glass stuff.
They have things that sort of work with Xbox services.
Like could they announce tablet support?
Could they have something that would be like, like a handheld only you can play games?
I just feel like it's an unexplored area for a company like Microsoft.
It's weird, and I just wanna see what they would do with that.
It may not be needed everyone.
But for mobile it would be.
Yeah.
Pretty cool.
Even, and I agree but even if they go down that road.
Right.
They are in, they are in no way going to deviate from a Windows phone exclusive sort of experience.
Well that's the problem, right.
Like fine, you want to stream your Xbox One games to your Surface, you can and you can play them.
But I don't have a Surface.
I'm not buying a Surface.
Well, it's like amazing to me, how did Sony do it?
Cuz you know, you look at Sony and Microsoft are two, massive, massive companies with different products all over the place and Sony is, is often been looked at as a company that's electronically you know, all over the map and sometimes those divisions hold each other back.
But still, the PlayStation group has been strong.
Right.
It's not like in the phone world, you know, there's, it's never really bled over in terms of the PlayStation phone or a Vita phone.
And maybe it didn't want that, but still, they've been able to keep a strong center.
Sure.
And you're right, like when it comes to Microsoft, it doesn't fold over enough into other stuff, and yet.
It feels like in the past year the center has, has gotten softer.
Right.
For, for Xbox.
But the other thing I would say is like, showing more games and partnerships maybe with PC, maybe PC style games and ports, cuz they have those relationships, or just do something.
And and the third part, which I think would be really helpful and immediate.
Is the whole games of gold thing.
Mm-hm.
I think if you look at what you can give, Xbox live subscribers now in terms of like access to games and make it a more, more appealing like three games and other instinct discounts.
Just start there.
Because PlayStation does a really good job of that.
And that's the thing.
Yeah, talk about that.
You know, there's, there's a lot of spaces that they've, hm, that they've made up ground.
Right.
They, they removed, people have already forgot.
They removed the, the Xbox Live gold status for a lot of their streaming apps.
That was a major deal.
They you know, they obviously the price cut.
But there's other things that Sony still has their number on.
And the PlayStation Plus is one of those things.
So, you know, there's games for gold.
But it, they're not there.
You know, I'm, I'm, in PlayStation Plus I'm getting games that are like three months old.
Yeah.
I'm not getting Assassin's Creed 2. You know like they, they need to sweeten that pot.
And.
It's troubling that they have this inability to make that happen.
And I don't know what it is, but they just won't budge on that.
Well the first Xbox One gold games are like what, it's like, Halo, Spartan Assault, and.
Right.
Something else I don't care about.
Right.
You know, its likes, and, and they may not have a lot of games but I remember when [UNKNOWN] started the PlayStation Plus program.
And they went ahead, and it wasn't, maybe like, it was maybe like a year afterwards.
Mm-hm.
They went ahead and sort of permanently added, like, Wipe Out, Uncharted.
Yeah.
And Gravity Rush.
Right.
Big [UNKNOWN].
That's all you need.
And then you know what, you wanna get a game, list subscription?
You're going to get our three top games.
Arguably.
Now you get them all the time.
Alright.
And, and that's like a really nice bundle deal and I don't know what Microsoft, the problem is I don't know if they have [UNKNOWN].
Right.
I mean I guess you've got um,you know, I don't know if people care about you know, the Rome game anymore, you know I feel like you know Rise, I think that that's, that is a big problem.
They, you know.
Effort, with Microsoft, where are the, what games.
You know, do I care about it?
Exactly, so that, to me that's like the big issue with them.
We get it, Smarkless, again like are you gonna, are you going to come out?
Right.
For like the fifth year in a row and try and **** this thing that nobody uses, nobody uses it.
Nobody uses it.
I don't know anybody.
I've tried to look at it, a little bit.
I looked at different playbook things with Madden.
Yeah.
And then I had like two things in my lap.
Right.
And I was like I, I'm not gonna do with it.
You wanna know why no one uses it?
Nobody uses it.
Right.
Because you, when you watch TV, that's when you have the laptop.
Mm-hm.
On you.
When you play a game you, you can't be bothered with another screen.
Well in Nintendo.
You know, did have one thing right.
Which is that if your going to have a weird second screen, make that your controller.
Right.
So that you know what, I have that in my lap cuz it's my controller.
Yeah.
That's the second screen.
It's the only way you're gonna.
And even then, you may wonder, do I even want that screen in my controller.
Right.
Exactly.
But that's like, you can't have, like your controller and this screen that you're gonna like put on your knee.
Right.
Or, or wherever, you know, and I have like a remote.
And then I'm like electronic lap man.
For sure.
No, you're absolutely right.
Alright let's peev it over to uh-
Do they sell glasses by the way?
That's the other wild card.
[INAUDIBLE], Microsoft.
Cuz everybody's talking about this stuff, I don't know.
They flail and they do something.
If they do, I mean I hope everyone just laughs, because I think Morpheus is mostly a joke too.
Right.
Yeah.
I don't know, I just.
It's interesting but it's like, what are you gonna, even Oculus which, you know, is one of the most exciting things out there you do still wonder, I still wonder.
But for which games and for what are you using this for?
Right and, and can we abuse developers even more?
How do I set this up?
Right.
Can we abuse them to the point where they're like, now you have to develop for this and you have to integrate move and Kinect and make sure we're.
Just leave these poor people alone.
Right and the problem is now that you have decoupled the Kinect are they really going to put in more of those types of fringe electronics?
Exactly, exactly.
Alright, let's pivot over to Sony.
Sony, all they had to do last year was turn the lights on.
That's all they had to do.
The, you know, the, the-.
Right.
Fumbles by Xbox and Microsoft, they gave them like an empty net.
All they had to do was lay it right in.
Right, don't turn the ball you win the game.
That's it.
It's like all you had to do.
Yeah.
Right, and so it, and that pissed me off.
I, I, you know, even though like.
I still want the field to be even.
I want it to be an even playing field, I want everyone to really have to make their case, and they seem to, like, coast.
They did, they did show a lot of new sorta game stuff, and exclusive games cuz that matter.
But how do they keep the momentum going this year?
Because they seem to have all of it.
PS4 outselling Xbox One.
But now, Xbox One is $400.
Mm-hm.
So, you know, at the end of the day, price is a major factor in that you know, buying decision.
What does Sony have to do?
Well looks like I actually forgot to say about Xbox, but I think it also applies to Sony.
I still think of these as systems that a lot of people are on the fence about.
Yeah.
And if you have the PS3 or even Xbox One, you, PS3 or Xbox 360, you're saying.
Well, you know what, the system's doing fine for me.
I have all these gains, I don't wanna make the switch.
I still think they need to make it so you can, I don't say backwards compatibility, but like, again, we still haven't seen the best games of the last generation [CROSSTALK] over.
Right.
Yeah.
And I know, you're looking at you know Left Behind is already on the, the schedule to come out.
In a remastered version.
Oh, the Last of Us, yeah.
I'm sorry Last of Us.
No that's alright.
Left Behind was the DLT.
Yeah, exactly.
You're not completely wrong.
Okay.
So and then you know I'm still thinking about Grand Theft Auto V.
Yeah.
I'm still thinking about.
You know even going back to Skyrim, they were great games.
So like what, are we just saying goodbye to them now and we're now.
I mean you don't want to get too old with that but I would say Grand Theft Auto V at least.
Yeah.
It's funny that you bring up GTA V.
I thought that's gonna be announced, I was like, you know?
Yeah I, I would not be surprised if that came out.
Right.
I, you know I, I, finished Watch Dogs reluctantly.
And I made it.
[LAUGH] [CROSSTALK]
And I finished Watch Dogs well just because it's not a very good game.
Yeah.
And I finished Watch Dogs and I, I was like, oh.
Man, this really makes me wanna go back and play some of Grand Theft Auto.
Right.
[INAUDIBLE] me wanna play the correct version of what they're trying to do here.
And like, you know, for most people, it's like, you're not gonna have like a crazy video game rack.
It means taking your console out of the closet and plugging it in.
Hm, right.
And I, I think that's still a big incentive.
I mean, Nintendo does this all the time, they tried out to like, Zelda Wind Waker, they try to remaster games and sell them as the new exciting product again.
It's the one thing they do right.
They do right.
Yes.
Do that all the time.
But they're not as right, it's what they do and what they do well yeah.
So, there's a lot of room for Sony, particularly, to do that cuz going back to they have so many great franchises-.
Right.
that are totally untouched.
Uncharted.
Got a war.
You go on and on.
So I feel like all they need to do now, it's almost again a, don't turn over the, the ball.
Like, just give us the actual games now.
Right.
I'm not saying haven't given actual games, but I would say that.
[CROSSTALK]
But now is the time.
Yeah.
The show is definitely a major franchise.
You know, I, I think of Infamous as sort of a very strong secondary collection in some, I don't know, a lot of people would argue that it's a primary.
But I think that you get to like the really big ones.
Yeah.
The ones that you're like, even Little Big Planet.
Sure.
Things that you're like, you say like, okay this is what I think about with Sony.
Right, what are they, what is [UNKNOWN] doing, what is-.
Yeah, give us your Mario.
And, and, and don't hold back now, because-
Yeah.
Everyone should be buying the PS4.
And also the Vita, I think the Vita has been hanging on, and we were saying like it's actually a really good system.
It's great.
And it's just, I think undersupplied.
Nintendo really.
Supplies tons of games to the 3DS.
Sony does not supply as many of their own games.
Mm-hm.
To Vita, but great indie games, great indie support.
I just wanna see more.
And I feel like.
They're doing a lot of that really compelling cross buy stuff.
Yeah.
Which is so smart.
It's great, right.
And, you know, you buy Limbo and you get it on PS3 and PS4 and the Vita and, or whatever it is, and you're.
You, you know, you feel like you're getting more.
Right.
And, and, and you feel like you're getting more of a value.
Um-.
I think that's the key, and then selling how they work together and the cross by.
Yeah.
I think that Sony's, you know, just keep doing what you're doing, like give us the rest of it.
Don't let another year go by.
Right, man.
You know, they they were, did you read that gigantic leaked, supposedly leaked, E3 press conference thing from Sony?
It was just like, it was a fan boy's wet dream.
Oh, [INAUDIBLE].
[CROSSTALK]
It was just all crap.
It was like Last Guardian.
And I like stopped even hoping, because I say like every year.
[CROSSTALK]
I keep thinking about it.
And if you don't know what we're trying.
The last [UNKNOWN] and.
The Last Guardian is this sort of vaporware game from the people who made Ico and the Shadow of the Colossus.
Yeah.
it's, they call themselves, Team Micheal or Japan studio or, whatever you wanna refer to it as.
And.
Men, the game has supposedly been in develop since 07.
In 09 they showed a video teaser of it.
Right, right.
That looked like game plan.
It looked compelling, and-.
It looked incredible.
it didn't, it doesn't matter what they make they because they are so original, you just wanna play it.
And 09 if you can believe it was the last time we heard about it.
It was supposed to come out in 2011, but never saw the light of day so obviously this, like I said, wet dream leak has it, you know, debuting again with a definitive date.
You know, I, I guess it's still possible.
It's sort of like-
It's possible.
It's not essential because I think you could go with those other-
It's the new Half-Life 3. I mean it's like the same sort of thing.
You know, it's this like magic, you know, mushroom thing.
I would love to see that obviously.
What I think about with Sony is they're like, my dream games are the like.
The lights come down [CROSSTALK]
And Crash Bandicoot.
[LAUGH] And Crash Bandicoot spins across the stage.
I would play another Crash game.
That'd be great.
I would not play another.
You wouldn't?
I never, I, I, I don't know.
It never did anything for me.
Alright.
Yeah.
Don't know why.
You know, I wouldn't be surprised if there is something like that.
Crash and Spyro will.
But I like the cinematic ceremony.
For sure.
I like the one where the lights come on.
It, it's again, it's last of us.
Right.
It's the you're going on an adventure.
Yeah.
And you're, you're and you know why the Uncharted games are great.
Where as like wow this is a. Cinematic experience.
It's also a game.
In fact, I think for XBox and Sony, I'd like to see more of those experiences.
Sure, yeah.
Oh yeah.
Where you just get viscerally excited.
Yeah, absolutely.
I feel like the Titanfall was more of like a, like a E-sports type game where it's kinda like you're gonna be more connected than ever.
An arena.
It's an arena and that's important too but it's I think it is, they're lacking on the transporting experience.
And the only game seems Microsoft-.
Yeah, like you say, wow this is amazing.
Like that Quantum Break game, maybe that's going to provide that.
Yeah.
Because the Remedy guys are geniuses and they make a lot of good stuff.
That could be it.
so, you know, I think.
You're right, the, the, you know.
All those development relationships they have, Sony, when they had like Santa Monica Studio and Ready at Dawn and, and Naughty Dog and all these guys, like, they make really great stuff.
And-
And you like.
Yeah, they're fantastic.
Oh sorry, go ahead.
It's just, no, it's just nice to know and, and I think that's where Sony gets a lot of the hype from.
It's nice to know that they've kind of got that relationship and that you're gonna see another Uncharted eventually.
You're probably going to see another update for The Last of Us, or something from those guys.
Right.
And no, I got so excited when Mill was talking was, the thing that always excites me so I don't want to interrupt and talk about it.
And their Indie support, and we talked about this.
We go to see, you know, go to events.
And they have all these interesting like, pub fun little, little groups from small outposts, like USC and other game designs schools.
People and students are making fascinating games year after year.
And these are games you're like, wow.
These are like.
It's like the great indie films of games.
Sure.
And Sony does that more than the others and it's like every year I want see what those are going to be.
Right.
Because they're like this hand selected little, like.
it's almost like somebody going to like a French theater festival.
And they're like, I saw these five totally weird games and we're going to offer them because we just think they're totally mind blowing.
And I love that.
I love that leap in the same way I like that in film or in theater.
Sure.
Where it's like, you know, don't give us the genre stuff.
Go and be weird, give us some totally bat crazy stuff.
And look, you, you can't deny it, they have delivered on that and that's really awesome to know.
Yeah.
So we're excited to see more of that.
Okay.
Nintendo time.
This is what you put up.
Nintendo.
Yesterday.
Okay.
Man
So what did I say?
Nintendo, fighting from behind.
That's a diplomatic way.
Yes.
That's a diplomatic.
I was almost gonna put an image of, of Smash Brothers up there, which probably would have been a better match.
You should've put in Death Stare Luigi.
The great spot.
You know I may need to swap.
That's the best thing that's happened to Nintendo.
I may need to swap out the image.
Has that, that's, how crazy are we living in a time where Death Stare Luigi [CROSSTALK].
I'm gonna swap that out immediately.
Is the best thing that's happened.
No, that's true, right.
Because it's like, what do you want out of Nintendo?
Right.
Where do you begin?
.
Mm hm.
We're not gonna expect them to change their stripes.
Right.
They are, they are what they are.
And they're not doing a press conference again.
And they're not doing press conferences.
They're doing, like, we're, we're gonna see them on Monday.
We're gonna see some stuff which may not be in the press conference.
We're just probably, both parties are being spared.
Right.
'Cuz, I remember years when Nintendo didn't have all that much to say, and the press conferences were.
They dragged on.
Pretty tough to [UNKNOWN].
Like, we get it.
The orchestra's here.
They're gonna play a, a selection.
Right.
From Zelda.
That's very nice.
Shaun White snowboarding.
[LAUGH].
Right.
Yeah, you're gonna sit up there and you're gonna see Sean White for a long time.
Right.
And I feel that, you're at the point now where like, okay, you know what, I like Iwata and his direct presentations actually.
I feel like they're, they're not that imposing, I think he's great, and like, if they want to do that style, fine.
Sure.
But.
3DS we, last year I think was the year that 3DS, you know, we said oh, rad that actually is a great handheld.
We're fans of that.
We're fans of it.
I mean last year's games honestly were better than this year's games.
Mm-hm, they were.
I feel like its backslid a tiny bit.
Sales have slowed down a tiny bit and it is now.
Came out 2011.
It's, it's three years old, and phones and tablets which are competing as they're getting a lot better.
Right.
So, it's getting a little aged.
Yeah.
And then, what other games are coming out?
It's, it's, a, it has good game support but, I'm just concerned that that's their star.
You get to the Wii U, and you want it to have that 3DS approach, but the problems are a lot bigger.
And that's really the, the focal point.
I mean you can almost even say-.
Right.
Alright, 3DS just gets a pass because it's, it's got its head above water.
But I'll get back to why I have an issue with 3DS in a moment.
Okay.
I agree, but then there's a problem with that too.
Yeah.
So the Wii U.
You know.
Oh my goodness gracious.
Oh my goodness gracious.
First of all, we've said this for a while, I think even since the Wii U came out, that I keep thinking the game pad is like the Kinect.
I think that the best plan [CROSSTALK] is make it optional and drop it from the system because most games don't require it.
I, only to shop in the store for some reason you need to use it.
You could always do it through a second screen or whatever else.
I just think just make it a Wii, drop the price.
Make it, make it a high def Wii.
They just, you'd just be fine.
If, if we leave E3 without a Wii U.
Wii U.
Price drop.
Yeah.
I, I, really really, you know.
Not gonna happen.
We've dug this grave for this console.
Yeah.
Not saying for the company, but for this console.
If we leave and there's no price drop, that thing is still $250.
How on earth is it, I mean, I'm crazy when it comes to this, I get it.
But like, I almost think like you, you need to just either abort, or,or you drop the price so that it's so low and so affordable,
Mm-hm.
That you give developers some incentive to start making games again, because nobody wants anything to do with it.
It's like kryptonite.
Make it a hundred, make it $100.
I'm serious, I know that's a hit.
That's, that's correct.
Make it a hundred, make it $150.
Do you know how long it, I don't think that the Wii didn't even have $100 until like-.
I, I know.
Like last month I feel like.
I. [LAUGH] But if the reason was.
[CROSSTALK] But the Wii was not in this situation.
Nowhere near the situation.
No, no.
But they've apologized.
I mean, there have been apologies about, the Wii.
Public apologies about the Wii U and Nelly, you know, that they know need to, make things better.
I mean, the time to act is, is gone already.
[CROSSTALK] Like this is emergency mode.
Yes.
We said that last year.
If the patient is dying on the table.
Get the heart started again.
Right?
Like.
It's an 18, what is it?
It's actually only a little over 18 months.
What, that's what's crazy.
The Wii feels, the Wii U feels kinda ancient and it came out less than two years ago.
Which is the crazy part.
Like, how are we calling it?
I still like don't under, I still can't believe it.
Right.
Like, how are we calling it, I mean technically there's still a lot of room for growth.
And when you look at the games, and the funny thing is when Nintendo makes its games I feel like they have a higher success rate for their games than most other big publishers.
I feel like most of their big party games end up turning out pretty great because they have a formula they follow and they.
Yeah.
Like they, they don't tend to disappoint lately.
They've been on a good roll.
I'm sure that's not true for everything but I mean look at Mario Kart 8. I mean they know how to fulfill what they want to do.
Look, Mario Cart 8 is amazing.
Yeah.
It's the best Mario Cart game, I think, ever.
It's great, and Super Mario 3D World last year.
It's like you look at those and you look at what they're doing with the graphics on it and you say like, this can look like a great system if you care in getting other developers to care.
But going back to the 3DS the problem that is unlike Playstation, these are two systems that don't play well together.
Mm-hm.
And so you want them to cross play so you can save money.
If you have a 3DS you want to play your, how many virtual console games are you ever gonna sell us in your life time.
I mean how many times we're gonna buy Super Mario 3?
And, and then, buy it again here, buy it again here.
You want to buy that plate everywhere.
Have them actually keep track of you.
Right.
And cross play.
You know?
I want, I want progress trackers.
I want things like, bring this freaking ecosystem into the 21st century.
It feels antiquated.
Right.
[CROSSTALK].
It feels left out.
They need fix that whole service.
And that is not a, that is not a result of like, you know, deficiency in, pro, in, in technology and processing power.
Like the Wii U can't handle, 3DS just can't handle.
No.
Just, just do this.
Stubbornness.
It is, it's a stubbornness.
Can they drop it to $100?
No, probably not.
And it's not real, realistic.
But something needs to happen.
But if you have, and we've said this.
If you have a hand held that acted like the game pad, then you get it all in one bundle.
And it's actually, you know, the next generation 3DS then you've got everything fixed, I think.
You can play the games between them and you're okay.
Do you think they have?
And they're so excited.
It's given me indigestion.
I think I actually had to burp as I said that.
Yeah.
You have like agita from it.
It's giving you agita.
I was talking and I was like, I was like literally about to burp in the middle of this monologue.
It's, it's a reasonable reaction, because it is ulcer inducing.
That's my feeling.
It's a big burp.
But I would.
[LAUGH].
That's a big burp, this company.
But that goes back to like the 3DS actually needs to be fixed.
They do, yeah.
But the promise is successful but if you don't fix it then you're never going to have the game pad replacement.
And so that's why I say that actually needs to get fixed because I think the base Wii U console without the game pad is probably fine.
But that game pad.
It's gotta go.
Well, I think, that.
That thing needs to be reinvented.
I think you're right.
Yes.
I'll see your comment about that, but I'll also raise you the fact that the UI is, is trash.
Yes.
And.
It's got a little better with the last update.
A little better.
There was an update last night, but it's kind of fake because it's, it's basically letting the pre-queue.
Right.
It's hiding it's hiding what it's doing.
Just like duct tape.
It really is duct tape.
A lot of duct tape in the [UNKNOWN].
So all right, you know, we're in agreement on that.
I just, it, it really upsets me.
I, I, every year I go in.
You know, they're not having the press conferencing so there's not like a time that where they can really surprise anyone.
I think there is, there are moments that allow for that to happen.
Yeah.
But I just don't know if we're going to see that happen.
Well it does drive me crazy because at home, honestly I play a lot of Wii games, Wii U games.
And it is the, the most family friendly set of platforms.
It is.
I would never my-
That's why I think we'll see a ban de coup though.
I'm serious [CROSSTALK]
We'll get into that-
I really do think like.
That's not a, that's not a tough- [CROSSTALK]
That's true.
You know, five year development game.
I don't know that, that's just what I think.
No, you're probably right.
Try and get some kid friendly users.
I can't even imagine my five and a half year old going anywhere near a Playstation 4.
It's almost like this R rated box.
Yes.
That they just aren't allowed to see until they're 17.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's sort of like taking them to a bar, basically.
Right.
It's just like you can't.
It's like a strip club, right?
[CROSSTALK] You can't go here.
It's a bar that's also a strip club.
[CROSSTALK] I'm not going to take you, I'm not going to take you in there.
Yeah, not a lot of [CROSSTALK]
Where it's like you can really, you know, I manage the time but it's like the Wii U, the 3DS they're great.
And you can drop them, too, for the most part.
Yeah.
You can, they are drop proof.
Yeah.
All right, let's finish up with the specific games.
Sure.
What games at E3 are you excited to see?
Nick Stat, one of our news writers put a slideshow that covers, you know, like the big triple-A things that we kind of all assume are gonna be there.
But what are the ones that maybe aren't on the radar?
You know.
I think the biggest theme, the biggest theme of E3 2014 is 2015, because everything is slipping into next year.
[CROSSTALK] Batman: Arkham Knight got slipped, The Order 1886 which I just got started getting excited about.
That was the one I was gonna say is one of the one's is most interesting because it's unique.
Right.
Because it's this weird, like what is this idea?
Yeah, exactly.
And I would say the same thing about quantum breakup.
[CROSSTALK] I want to know about these new original ideas that feel like they've been very heavily invested in.
It was what I originally interested in Watch Dogs about.
Right, oh, for sure.
But once I started sitting through it I was kinda like, man I can't.
I just, Watch Dogs to me is like disappointment of the century.
And it's not because-.
What is the most- Is it that it's not really hacking?
Or is it kind of like too belabored?
Well I, I, in the review I wrote, I, I don't think hacking is a strong enough mechanic to carry that.
To carry a whole game, and it wasn't.
And, and it's too much like GTA.
And, and inferior GTA.
Like, GTA is.
I get it.
I'm not trying to like, and they spent a lot of money on Watch Dogs.
They spent a lot of money on GTA too.
But, you gotta kind kinda like, choose what you're gonna do.
And I don't think Watch Dogs had any clear vision.
I understand, like, what they were going at.
But to me, it just, it just didn't work.
And, it was more on this promise, of this hype.
And, I guess, I fell victim to the hype, as everyone else did.
Mm-hm.
Which is why the game is more of a disappointment.
If it just sort of came out of left field, it might have been perceived as a better, or received, rather, as a better experience.
But I thought it was too redundant.
It was too repetitive.
I didn't like it.
I felt like it just kept reminding me of like GTA for like an IT professional.
[LAUGH] Right.
Like your whole job is to only manage networks.
[CROSSTALK] FDR.
Yeah, right, exactly.
And like, and to get into networks.
If you're an IT guy and you go postal.
Yeah.
And this is the game.
I look at the things I can do technically.
And I also never found hacking.
This is like, I like cyber punk, but I've never like the hacking part of it, which sounds weird.
Right, right, right.
He'll be like, you idiot, what are you.
[CROSSTALK].
Cyber punk, but it's true.
I don't like the hacking part of, of, of fiction.
It was ridiculous.
It was boring, it's like watching people on TV.
Type.
Do hacking with some fake software program.
Exactly, exactly.
so, you know, you obviously when you mention Watch Dogs you have to like temper your expectations a little bit.
You can't get too excited.
And look you know, give credit to Ubisoft.
They did it, they made it work.
And it might.
And they've presold more games than they've ever done before with a franchise and the, you know, Watch Dogs will get a sequel just because of how good and powerful this franchise performs.
And you know, I mean, look at Assassin's Creed.
I mean, the way it's been evolving.
Like, they, they'll, they'll do interesting things with it, I'm sure.
And, and, look.
It'll, it'll start changing the way you wouldn't expect.
It can't, it can't get any worse.
[LAUGH].
No, I give, I give Watchdogs a tough time.
There's parts of it that I did enjoy.
But, for the most part, I thought it fell a little flat.
That's a show I'm interested in seeing what Nintendo has.
Yeah.
I really am.
I mean.
[UNKNOWN] Zelda?
I would love to see a Zelda, I would love to see a Metroid.
I'd like to see one of their like, you know, really serious.
I mean 3D world and Mario Kart were pretty much their only big, and I guess maybe Pikmin, were big franchises where you'd say like, you know, how is this gonna be exciting and look great.
Metroid and Zelda are, are the ones.
At least do one of them.
We saw a Zelda demo.
Yeah.
That was more like a proof of concept, than anything else.
And here's a frame from it, up here.
But, you know, it didn't really, show you anything that was gameplay.
It was just more like, hey we can give you a map and you can look around and.
Right
Yeah, yeah I'm gonna play the hell out of this game.
It looked fantastic.
But it's just not a reality quite yet.
Who knows what'll happen next week.
What about you have games like, obviously Arkham Knight.
I'm excited to see how that's gonna go.
I'm excited to see how, even games like Dying Light, which is another sort of zombie game.
Yeah.
I'm not into zombies though.
That's the thing, for me.
I, I know are wearing thin.
I check out on that.
But, but they're kind of doing interesting new stuff.
I'm not a huge Call of Duty guy so I don't, you know, I like, I like the online, and, and I know that it's like a reliable thing that I'll just go to every year.
But I kind of like what the Battlefield Hardline stuff looks like, with the cops and robbers angle.
I think that's gonna be fun.
I think The Division from Ubisoft, I still am excited about that.
But you know it, I'm, but I'm really looking to be surprised this year.
Yeah.
And that's what I'm most anxious about.
Being surprised.
And seeing, going back to Oculus, so you know it will be there at the show.
Morpheus will be there at the show.
Project Morpheus, not, you know.
[CROSSTALK]
Not Neo's buddy.
Right, he will not be there, but I am curious to see if people are starting to develop more games for those.
And maybe show something that, that I mean just from an E3 perspective, if you have a chance to do a demo that you know you can't go do later,.
Right.
It's a fun ride to go on at the show.
Right.
I got to try it on with the head set.
That doesn't necessarily mean that's a look forward to it later in the year thing.
Sure.
But that's something, I always feel like when you're at the show, go experience something like that.
Sure.
So that I want, I really want to look for.
And then Indi, Indian Mobile, was always interesting to me, I, I've kind of given up in some ways because, you know, covering iPhone games and iPad games, iPad games specifically, you just see that it, so much of it is repeating itself.
Yeah.
And I would love to see- There are great indie games out there.
But you don't see them at shows like this.
You see them at like at you know, at GDC or, game developer conferences.
And they bubble up on their own, and then people acquire them.
Right.
Or don't and they just put them up themselves.
So this show, it's not like you are going to go find that.
But I am just curious to see if people are thinking interestingly in that space because you go to big publishers and it's all kinda like, the next version of this Match Three [UNKNOWN], puzzler is here again for you.
Right, right.
No one
Premium excitement, you know, [CROSSTALK] sleep.
You're right.
No one, those types of discoveries happen outside of E3 for the most part.
Yeah.
At E3, the, you know, no one, I guess there are a few games that maybe like slide under the radar from like, not big, big time publishers,.
Yeah.
But, anything that's remotely interesting at E3 kind of bubbles up and you, and you hear about it.
And that's like.
It's not a huge show.
No.
No.
And the importance is.
People think it's like this massive thing.
It's not that enormous.
No.
Especially not compared to CES.
Yeah.
Where you just feel like, you know, overwhelmed.
Where it's like 19 football fields.
Right.
And then people are pushing off stuff to so many other events now.
Right, right.
I remember years ago, this was, a lot, a lot bigger deal.
Sure.
I'm interested in, you know, not to, not drink the apple Kool Aid on this, at the event, WWDC.
But when they were talking about game development.
Mm hm.
And there was a, to cross the street, [UNKNOWN] WWDC and E3.
You know, you had, you had EA, you had Crytek, you had Epic, you had, The fourth company.
I'm trying to remember what the fourth was.
I feel terrible.
But talking about Metal, which is the way of pushing more graphics performance, and they were talking about the Frostbite engine.
Right.
Running on an E7 processor, and they were showing like plans for Zombies Garden Warfare.
Sure.
And so I'm curious.
I keep waiting for the announcement of simultaneous development for mobile.
Like when they might say like this next game is also coming out for iOS.
It's happened a few times, like The Telltale games.
Yeah, those have happened.
Yeah.
And I'm just curious, will we get to the point where we can really see people really take those ports seriously.
Right
Part of it is the control limitation.
You're right
We've always had that.
Gigantic issue.
Would there be something with it, this is more Apple speculation with the Apple TV and stuff like that but we saw with Amazon.
For sure
I just want to see other ways to play games.
That's more of like a hardware thing to follow, cause you're probably just be playing the same types of games.
I don't think there'll be new types of games.
Alright.
So, we'll have to see how it all plays out.
Yeah.
Literally.
[LAUGH] We will be playing.
alright, well, make sure you follow Scott on Twitter @jetscott.
We will be on the floor.
On the show floor, not on the floor.
[LAUGH] Maybe on the floor.
Depends on how our show goes.
It might leave us that way.
Now E3 also has really plush carpets, right?
Or is that just CES?
Oh, that's a great question.
It's not a lot to walk, you're really just walking back and forth through that hallway, to south and west hall.
It just gets, it's funny, it starts, like, very manageable, and then the plush begins to feel like it's breaking your ankles.
Right.
And then It gets really weirdly hot.
Yeah.
And sooner or later, you're sitting inside like a cave within a cave within a cave.
Right.
That's done up like somebody's living room.
Yeah, I, you're always in these like little air-conditioned, fake apartments.
Yeah, they've got.
They've got constructed there.
It's like, oh hey!
We're in 1930's Tokyo.
Yeah.
[CROSSTALK] And then, like the, you look at the ground, there's like.
Fake dust.
[LAUGH] And like, you know, styrofoam crap.
Thank you for joining us, as the vents are sort of failing and you're sweating.
It is kind of like Epcot Center in a weird sort of way.
In the best way.
Do you have a ticket for the four o'clock show?
You're like, yeah that's me.
Right.
It's a weird thing, so we're going to try to give you.
We'll be there.
The experience and what it's like to be there.
Make sure you follow myself and, Scott on Twitter, that's @JetScott.
Follow along with the live blogs on Monday.
Microsoft kicks us off in the morning.
Yep.
And Nintendo, Sony at night.
So make sure you do that.
And, we'll be shooting some video down there too.
We'll have a lot of fun.
We'll be busy.
All right.
See as many games as we can.
Absolutely.
Stay tuned tomorrow.
Steve Guttenberg comes to the show to kind of help celebrate the 1,500th episode of the 404.
That's crazy, right?
1,500.
Boy, you've had 1,500 episodes?
I thought you were kidding for a second.
I was, like.
No, it's real.
1,500.
It's real, 1,500.
That's amazing.
Is it?
I guess.
You look good.
You look good for 1,500.
Well, appreciate that.
[LAUGH]
You look healthy.
You're the first person to tell me that.
I need to hear that.
[LAUGH].
Shoot us an email at the404@cnet.com.
Follow us on Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, and all that stuff.
We're back here tomorrow.
Big thanks to Scott Stein, thank you sir.
Hey, thanks.
We'll see you guys then.
This has been the 404 Show, high tech, low brow.
Have a great one.
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