Last year was E3 week! It's one of the biggest times in the games industry, where developers showcase their latest titles and publishers hold large, live-streamed conferences. Remedy wasn't at this year's show but there was some news to come out of the keynotes which fans may be excited about...
Play Original XBOX Games on Your XBOX One
For regular attendees of the show, things were a little different this year. As a trial run, the event had some ups and lows, but allowed developers to get a glimpse of how the show is evolving and ways to accommodate the changes...
Perhaps one of the main things to come from the XBOX conference was the announcement of backwards compatibility for original XBOX titles.
Whereas some titles have since been remastered or ported to later consoles, there are some games which have been left behind. For instance, current generation console gamers can only play the original Max Payne title if they have a Playstation 4. If XBOX brings backwards compatibility for Max Payne 1 and 2, it would be a big deal for the community, especially new fans who joined through Quantum Break.
Whereas some titles have since been remastered or ported to later consoles, there are some games which have been left behind. For instance, current generation console gamers can only play the original Max Payne title if they have a Playstation 4. If XBOX brings backwards compatibility for Max Payne 1 and 2, it would be a big deal for the community, especially new fans who joined through Quantum Break.
As a disclaimer, while the programme was announced at the show, Max Payne isn't yet confirmed as one of those titles appearing on XBOX One. There's only one announced title so far, but it's definitely not in the realm of impossible!
Click HERE to watch the announcement.
For regular attendees of the show, things were a little different this year. As a trial run, the event had some ups and lows, but allowed developers to get a glimpse of how the show is evolving and ways to accommodate the changes...
Changes to the Show
For the first time, E3 (originally an industry-only event) opened its doors to the general public. Tickets still had to be booked in advance, and there was a limit of 15,000, but it brought the total attendance up to 68,400 and because of safety concerns, organisers had to open the doors early due to overcrowding in the lobby.
While it's an entertainment show, it's also a place of work for industry professionals with developers showing their latest titles and talking to journalists all around the world. Each day is a packed schedule for everyone with high expectations and demands from the gaming world. The 31% visitor increase from the previous year was met with concerns over event capacity, security, and work schedules by developers and journalists. Opening the event up to more gamers brought comparisons between E3 and Gamescom, both huge gaming shows in the calendar, but with a major difference; Gamescom has a full press day kicking off the event. It allows developers to show journalists their game, and for it to be shown to an international audience rather than a locally based audience. Meeting gamers in person is big too, but getting the balance just right is important; if you don't, you're alienating your fanbase or limiting your international audience.
While Remedy wasn't showcasing anything this year at the event, some of them were there in person, including members of the marketing department. If future E3 shows decides to continue with a Gamescom-style audience of gamers and press, there needs to be a way of accommodating both. Hopefully when Remedy is at the event next, they'll have some ideas for improvements from the recent show based on what they saw.
