Now that the dust has settled from E3 2010, you might be wondering what all of us here at Insomniac HQ thought of the show. Well this is the blog post for you! Over the three days of E3, lots of various Insomniacs wandered the floor and checked out everything from Rage, to the 3DS to PlayStation Move (ok, so we probably have a couple of those around the office to play with too).

 

We asked everyone here to tell us what they liked the most at the show. What stood out to a group of jaded game developers? Read on to find out!

 

 

 

My favorite game at E3 was Vanquish. First, I had no idea it even existed. Second, it looked awesome. Third, the demo was a lot of fun - action-packed and full of spectacle. Plus, it's in the sci-fi shooter genre, which is something that I'm always into. I also liked taking over one of the walking mechs (although I sucked at actually using it).

 

Another surprise for me was Castlevania: Lord Of Shadows. I'd put that at number two. In the demo, you take down a pack of werewolves until you get to the main werewolf, where you let him leap onto a giant stake. It looked awesome, and it did a great job of looking like a cold rainy night in a village. The villagers attacking the werewolves with torches also added to the atmosphere.

 

Third - I liked Dead Space 2 a lot. I am a big fan of the first one. The second one looked very cool, but it seemed like the announcer had to point out the new things because (with the exception of the zero-gravity movement), they did not stand out that much. Yeah - there's a new suit and a few new enemies, but that didn't change enough from the last game. There were new weapons too, but they seemed to also be very similar to the original Dead Space - just limb some guys. Mind you, that's not an insult - the first one was awesome. It just did not catch my eye like Vanquish or Castlevania.

 

 

 

The love for Vanquish was a theme amongst many other Insomniacs as well.

 

 

 

 

Vanquish: Guns, explosions, mechs to pilot, jet boots, giant transforming spider mech enemies, over-the-top action, hot anime librarian-looking chick giving me orders (oh, crap, inside voice, inside voice …)

 

 

Paul Featherstone, Community Specialist:

 

A brilliant technical showpiece from the creator of the original Resident Evil and the director of Resident Evil 4 – my favorite game of all time. It plays like Gears of War on crack and looks absolutely gorgeous. Platinum is knocking it out of the park after Bayonetta – hopefully we will see more frequent high-quality releases from them in the next few years.

 

On the downloadable side, Dead Nation (from Super Stardust HD devs) and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light were absolutely incredible. It's great to see such varied and gorgeous gameplay from the classic top-down isometric POV.

 

The other real standout for me was Id's Rage. Wow. Jaw-dropping console graphics running at 60 frames on the 360. Gameplay looks like solid old-school non-ironsights Id. Me likey :)

 

 

 

While Vanquish was the most mentioned game from our volunteer respondents, there were some other favorites on the floor.

 

 

 

 

I think my favorite is still Marvel vs Capcom 3. I play fighting games to death. Finally playing a game that's the sequel to one of the most beloved fighting game franchises was well worth it. Deadpool is freakin hiliarious. The game looks beautiful and it still plays like Marvel. IT'S MAAARRRRRVEL BABY!

 

 

 

My favorite game was Lost in Shadow, because that idea (of 2D platforming affected by a 3D environment) is intriguing to me, and I think a lot of fun stuff can be done with it. I’m a big fan of unusual interactions in the game world, and this is a good example of one. Although, it so closely resembled Shadow Physics from Indiecade ’09 that I wonder if someone was involved in both projects, or if they were inspired by it.

 

 

 

I was pretty blown away by the 3DS tech. It’s just sort of surreal seeing it. Nintendo’s Kirby's Epic Yarn and Donkey Kong Country Returns also hit the perfect old-school vibe. Sony had some killer games on display, with inFamous 2 and Killzone 3 both looking spectacular. And Harmonix’s Dance Central might actually give me a reason to buy a Kinect - everything those guys do turns to gold.

I also really enjoyed checking out Fallout: New Vegas and Brink. Both games are looking amazing, and I’m excited to spend a lot more time with each. But my overall game of show has to go to Dues Ex: Human Revolution. The demo literally blew me away from the amount of gameplay choices there seem to be. I really can wait to play the full game.

 

 

 

The best and most memorable games for me were Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and Pac-Man: Battle Royale. Of course, these are two quite different games, and they’re great for different reasons. Brotherhood’s multiplayer mode is fresh, innovative, and fun. I’m excited to play a competitive game that is not about firing projectiles at a distance, but rather about close-up stealth attacks. Battle Royale is brilliant because it takes the classic proven Pac-Man gameplay formula and changes only a few details, to produce a truly fun modern competitive experience. The 4-player console machine at E3 always had lines with people cheering and craning their necks to watch the competition.

 

 

And lastly, John Fiorito, Chief Operating Officer - our favorite office California Berkley Bears fan who loves to troll the USC faithful at the office:

 

NCAA Football 2011. California 18, USC 0.

 

 

 

Hopefully that gives you a little taste of some of the games we saw on the E3 Showfloor. A lot of great games were there, and we left pretty inspired to get back here and keep working on our upcoming titles.

 

But more on those later… :)

 

Discuss E3 on our message boards here!