nintendo character daisy
Transcription
nintendo character daisy
MEC E3 2016 KEY TRENDS & TAKEAWAYS The 22nd annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (known as E3) hosted over 200 announcements and reveals, with more than 2,000 projects currently in progress displayed on the show floor. Keynotes included Electronic Arts, Bethesda, Microsoft, Ubisoft and Sony. DID YOU KNOW? 155 million Americans play video games 80% of American households own a gaming device E3 is the world’s premier trade show for video, computer and mobile games. Held annually in Los Angeles at the L.A. Convention Center, E3 offers the interactive entertainment industry three days of jam-packed action. It is designed for the leading and emerging companies within the gaming and related products space to showcase new technologies, game-changing products and connect with both current and potential partners. This year the must-see gaming event took to live streaming their three day experience on both Twitch (an online platform for watching video gamers play games) and YouTube (who has also made significant investments in gamers and gaming culture). The event also saw some interesting shifts with major companies opting out of booths for more interesting plays, like Electronic Arts hosting their own event the same week focusing on the E3 livestream, and Activision partnering with Sony for the launch of Call of Duty Infinite Warfare. These moves hint at a shifting industry and forces us to look at the evolving ways content (including gaming content) is developed, distributed and engaged with. *Entertainment Software Association, 2016 MEC E3 2016 4 KEY TRENDS & WHY THEY MATTER TO YOU HARDWARE: THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENT Historically, much of the gaming industry has been based on the quality of the games (e.g. the story, the playing options, the optics) more so than their consoles. While major players like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have spent years vying for console dominance, the emergence of newer technologies like Wi-Fi and smartphones drove the impetus for hardware to be more flexible in the quest for living room dominance. The announcement of Project Scorpio has changed the console landscape for good—gone is the day you could not buy your way into better console performance and had to hope the game developers invested in their content quality. Now, players who spend more will get higher resolution and better specs, leading to advantages in multiplayer games. Additionally, with eSports becoming more prevalent, this can make the gap between casual and professional gamers even larger. While Project Scorpio is not available until the end of next year, Microsoft is confident that it will win the competition for the most powerful hardware. That power is one of the things that was repeatedly mentioned during the presentation even though we were only shown a few details. So now Sony knows what is coming and it is very possible it may change some aspects of the upcoming PS4 Neo. This is exactly why announcing before the show was such a strong move by Sony, and hints at the next chapter of the hardware competition. If Project Scorpion can live up to its promise, it will open new doors for developers and gamers with 4x faster processing than the current Xbox, 4K capable and fully VR. EXAMPLES OF HARDWARE: THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENT Microsoft’s smaller, cheaper Xbox One Slim (Xbox One S) starts at $299 and costs up to $400 for a 2-terabyte hard drive. It supports 4K video and is 40% smaller than the original Xbox One, and also comes with a new controller and vertical stand that removes the need for a bulky power cable (which means it will fit in your media center more easily). Given they announced this alongside Project Scorpion, we assume this device is targeting later adopters who need a final push to invest in a console. Microsoft’s Project Scorpio console will be able to run games at 4K resolution as well as power VR experiences. With a new GPU and CPU with 6 teraflops of processing power, it promises to be the fastest console available. Sony shared no details on but did bring up Neo, a new version of its PlayStation4 hardware that will work with 4K TVs and run virtual reality, thanks to more powerful graphics. While Sony’s press conference focused on the games, this innovation makes sense given Sony is the U.S. market leader and wanted to focus on their core fans (and the games that excite them). Sony did take the opportunity to show off a brand new gun peripheral to use with PS Virtual Reality, called the PS VR Aim Controller, it is an evolution of the old PlayStation Move Sharpshooter and allows for direct 1-to-1 tracking, which means that you can aim in games just as you would in real life. VIRTUAL REALITY: COMING TO LIFE It should come as no surprise that virtual reality (VR) was one of the hottest topics at E3 this year. The number of VR exhibitors has doubled since last year's expo, and headsets (e.g. Oculus VR’s Oculus Rift and Sony’s Morpheus) have continued to draw interest of both the gaming and entertainment industries. There were plenty of VR games teased, with publishers like EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda showcasing VR titles for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. While some of these titles are a part of existing franchises, many of them are getting reworked editions and modes for VR gameplay. Consoles like Project Scorpio have the potential to unlock the power and opportunities of VR for a massive audience, going beyond the standard headbased devices to offer an easy to use, plug-and-play experience to help scale VR in ways previously unavailable. More important than the devices and headgear is that there is now a commitment to bring VR gaming to consumers, providing them with a reason to invest in the latest headsets. Sony has promised 50 VR games before the end of the year which is an incentive that could help bring virtual reality into homes. We saw plenty of announcements when it came to VR game-playing opportunities, as well as scaling when it comes to device prices, offering consumers more options for their investment. For example, Sony’s PlayStation VR is priced at $399, which is more reasonable compared to the price points of Oculus Rift ($599) and HTC Vive ($799). While cost has been prohibitive to many gamers, as new products - including Fallout 4 (Bethesda), Star Trek (Ubisoft) and Star War’s Battlefront (Electronic Arts) - enter the VR space, it may help drive consumer’s to invest in the headsets. EXAMPLES OF VIRTUAL REALITY: COMING TO LIFE Oculus still has not announced when its Touch motion controllers will ship, but did announce that, when it does, there will be 30+ full VR games that will have support for Touch. More details are expected to come Fall 2016. Project Scorpio is actually an Xbox One that is built with the hardware capabilities to support high-end VR (although Microsoft did not specify which VR headset it would use). While Microsoft claimed it does not have a partner set, they hinted at the possibilities in the future. They noted that, “you can imagine at the price point of Scorpio, which we have not actually said, but think about consoles and where they live in terms of price point — having something at six teraflops that will get millions of people buying is very attractive to some of the VR companies that are out there already, and we have architected it such that something will be able to plug right in and work.” Tempting! Sony announced their PlayStation VR, the $399 headset, will launch on October 13th 2016. There will be 50 games (e.g. Arkham VR, Final Fantasy XV, Resident Evil 7) available between the platform's launch and the end of 2016. Ubisoft introduced Star Trek: Bridge Crew in VR. EA’s Star Wars Battlefront XWing VR Mission will be a VR game. CONSUMERS: COMMANDING YOUR ATTENTION We have become a culture where consumer-generated content provides endless opportunities for consumers to tell stories on their own or alongside brands. This year, the gaming community embraced the same culture, recognizing the power of the fan and making them a major part of E3. In past years, fan participation has not been an option with E3 being a trade show (unlike consumer-focused conventions like Comic-Con) with access limited to exhibitors and press with credentials. While platforms like Twitch and YouTube offer streaming coverage of many of E3’s hottest events, access to E3 has been limited. However, this year we saw publishers and even E3 hosting fan demos. E3 further embraced consumers by hosting a free parallel show, "E3 Live," offering 20,000 gamers an experience designed for them, featuring demo stations, game developer sightings, contests, dance competitions and live music. Meanwhile, publishers like EA, known for their FIFA and Madden games, hosted public events, featuring athletes such as NFL’s Marshawn Lynch. Some companies have recognized the need to address consumers directly for a while. For example, Nintendo does not hold an E3 press conference anymore, rather they speak to fans directly via its Nintendo Direct webcasts. Nintendo did, however, focus their entire booth to the new Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which garnered consumer praise. As brands look to determine the impact of a floor booth as opposed to just being around the event, one can assume that there will continue to be upheaval on the floor of E3 and the surrounding LA Live event space. EXAMPLES OF CONSUMERS: COMMANDING YOUR ATTENTION Sony announced during E3 that consumers will be able to play at certain stores starting on June 17th. The headset will be usable at more than 30 GameStop and Best Buy stores and will be available to try at more than 300 locations nationwide. Consumers will be able to play PlayStation VR Worlds, Eve: Valkyrie, Headmaster, Battlezone and Superhypercube. The list will expand before the PS VR officially launches on October 13. Ubisoft announced that as part of Ubisoft's 30th anniversary celebration, the company is giving away a free PC game each month for the rest of the year to consumers. June's free game is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and a new game will be announced every month until 2017. Nintendo did not let E3 pass without announcing a slew of new Amiibo's, Nintendo character toys, that interact with multiple games on the Wii U and 3DS—including Super Mario figures- Daisy, Waluigi, and Boo- as well as three new Zelda Amiibo. When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is released next year, it will be sold alongside the Archer Link, Rider Link, and Guardian Amiibo figures, which Nintendo claims are the most detailed toys to date. Microsoft's Xbox Design Lab is an online program that lets users design their own controller by customizing the color of just about every part, from the front and back panels to the shoulder triggers and D-pad. There are around eight million possible color combinations, as well as the opportunity to engrave the front with custom text. GAME PLAY: WITHOUT BOUNDARIES The ability to be connected at any time from any location is increasingly important for consumers. Additionally, consumers often fail to distinguish between screens as they can access their content on whichever screen is most easily accessible. Gamers have the same demand, wanting uninterrupted access to the games they love no matter what device or platform they are using. Companies, like Microsoft, made announcements that hinted at the ideal future; one that unites all of the gaming ecosystems. For example, Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere lets consumers buy participating cross-platform games once and own them on both Xbox One and Windows 10, bridging the gap between console and PC gamers, while Microsoft’s "Clubs" are groups of Xbox Live friends that are both on and off Xbox One. The option to save and transfer data between devices like consoles and desktops introduces opportunities for expanding and creating new ecosystems for publishers and experiences for consumers. New technologies give games the opportunity to move beyond the console, shifting seamlessly across screens and even into the real world, allowing game developers and brands the chance to test and find new ways to bring games to life, literally and figuratively. The result has the potential to unlock new consumer interactivity and behaviors when it comes to how, when, where and why people play games. EXAMPLES OF GAME PLAY: WITHOUT BOUNDARIES Microsoft’s "Clubs" are groups of Xbox Live friends both on and off Xbox One. Instead of forming new parties at each game session, a “club" is a voice and text chatroom users can join or leave at any time. The text chat is accessible on PC and the Xbox Live mobile apps, moving the conversation beyond the console. Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere lets consumers buy participating crossplatform games once and own them on both Xbox One and Windows 10. For example, if you buy a game on Xbox One, it will appear in your Windows 10 library, and vice versa. Saved games, achievements and other details will carry over between the two versions, allowing you to pick up gameplay on either platform. Microsoft is also putting a larger effort behind releasing its own games on both platforms—the launch line-up features some of Xbox One's biggest upcoming games. Nintendo’s Pokémon Go Plus wearable is an accessory to its Pokémon Go mobile app game that lets you catch pocket monsters using your smartphone in the real world. Turning players into Pokémon trainers, the wearable alerts players when they are near a PokéStop via vibrations and colors. It is an innovative step in bringing the real world into the gaming world (and vice versa). THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR MEC@E3 2016 CONTRIBUTORS! For questions, please contact: Whitney Fishman Zember [email protected]