Welcome to the tenth edition of Reloading...



Boomjack might have kick started Reloading two weeks ago, but it’s not really Re-Loading… until we revisit an old Loading… tradition: the tragic travelogue, a recount of our madcap adventures getting to and from major game events and conferences.

 

For E3 2011, we almost had a repeat of the Cologne incident. It started with an ominous call from a booking agent last week – we were being downgraded from a suite to a double. We didn’t elect the suite for sheer posh - it was much cheaper to get one suite for our three person E3 team than more than one regular room.

 

This would have been fine were we two people, two couples, siblings of an innocent age, some combination of the above, or if the hotel didn’t have a policy against rollouts in their claustrophobic double rooms, but we’re three male coworkers with a cultural bias against sleeping two to a bed (unless one happens to be an alluring, age-appropriate woman).

 

My days of sleeping on the floor at E3 are long, long past, so being the Hannibal of our A Team (if you’re wondering - Ben is out charming waitresses as Face, Reuben pities fools as our Mr. T), I had a plan – empty unnecessary equipment (like, you know, underwear) out of my suitcase, and bring an air mattress.

 

All worked well, beds were moved, space was made, until I was reduced to beggaring for pillows and blankets. Regrettable words were said, and a pillowfight in our underwear (or my lack thereof) almost broke out until Ben called attention to how all this would be featured in Reloading…  So we regained our manliness, had a beer, and discussed the pre-E3 hutzpah. Things like:

 

DUST 514 will be PlayStation 3 exclusive – for their first online shooter, CCP is shedding their devout PC following (and the best FPS platform, by far) in favor of a console plagued with security problems and a reputation for the most game-destroying approvals process in the industry (just ask DCUO). What gives? And what will this mean for World of Darkness? We hope to find out when we talk to CCP today.

 

Star Wars: The Old Republic’s blurry trailer timeline – We love a series of Blur trailers just as much as the next multi-celled organism, but why not release them in order? I’m getting all darthed up. Anyway, we’ll get the latest on Tattooine and TOR’s advanced classes early today.

 

2012 release dates announced at E3 2011 - Not that anyone outside Steam takes release dates seriously, but the fact that Mass Effect 3 will be out in March 2012 (at the earliest) is deflating anti-news after strong rumors of a holiday 2011 release. That’s nine more months that the human race has to hang in the balance. DUST 514, the EVE Online crossover FPS, is slated for late 2012 as well.

 

How E3 strives to be the only show that’s over before it begins – There’s the Santa Monica pre-show, where major press is invited to preview the big presentations a week in advance of the show, ostensibly to make sure their articles are copacetic to Big Publisher Marketing. And then there’s the Monday press conference day, where major press is invited to parrot some of the biggest announcements of the show. Problem is, the show doesn’t actually open until Tuesday. Some presenters we tried to book have actually already left. That could be anti-climactic, but fortunately we know of a number of games that still aim to shock and amaze on the show floor.



A younger, more proportional Lara Croft? - Call us crazy, mainstream media, but everyone's favorite Tomb Raider is still looking pretty mammed out to us.

 

World of Warplanes = Awesome –I think Wargaming.net has nailed the free-to-play online shooter formula better than any game of its kind I’ve played, so I’m glad to hear that they’re venturing into the unfriendly skies.

 

Beyond TOR and GW2 – For a while, the MMO naysayers have been pointing to a perceived void beyond Guild Wars 2, and for a while we’ve only been able to point to a handful of MMOGs like Warhammer 40k – games fairly thin, at present, on the substance of hype. With titles like Defiance, Copernicus, EQ Next, and DUST 514 offering more details, this year’s E3 should liven up the MMOG discussion.

 

And so E3 begins in some ways and ends in others. We’ll be updating the E3 live feed and coverage portal throughout the day, so be sure to stay tuned. In the meantime, email me with your E3 thoughts and questions, and if the 3G/4G network manages to stay up this year (and your questions are awesome enough) we’ll ask the devs.

 

Until next time, live from E3 2011,

Jeff “Ethec” Woleslagle