Today I rattled out a rundown of the three battle passes in fighting games that I currently play. I think they might be the only battle passes in major FGs? This piece came out of my surprise that Cygames, of all people's, battle pass was more fair and reasonable than the ones in Capcom and Namco's games. As a niche gamer this isn't the first time I've dealt with a battle pass but it is the first time they've made it to my "neighborhood", you know?

Frogun Encore might not be in tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, but the Nintendo Direct will be IN my stream tomorrow! Plus another Sonic R style model! Let's go!

Quick peek behind the curtain, I generally have several blog posts written in advance so that I don't have to worry about not having something written for each week and I can afford to miss a week every now and then. However, I'm actually making an exception this time since I really wanted to get my thoughts on this down while it's still relatively close to the events in question.

So last week at the time that this is being posted, we had the whole Summer Games Fest event, and there were a LOT of presentations this year. Not just some of the big names showing up again like Xbox and Ubisoft (Sony's State of Play was a week before the event and Nintendo, at least at this point, still hasn't announced when their Direct is taking place), and the returning PC Gaming and Future Games show, and a few very large games are even getting their very own spotlight directs, like Black Ops 6 and Dragon Age: Veilguard.

However, there were a LOT more shows that were much more independent game focused that weren't put on by a single corporate entity and that weren't covering massive studio releases; The Access-Ability direct, the Guerrilla Collective, the always terrifying and comedic Devolver Direct, the Wholesome Games direct, the Latin American and Women-Led Game showcases, there were so many of them this year.

And of course I went and watched them all, and my wishlist for upcoming releases has heavily ballooned as a result. With that being said, as I was watching all of these shows, I couldn't help but notice a very big difference from the way that they were handled. Granted, these differences, looking back, have pretty much been there the whole time, but I feel like the difference this was was far, far more staunch. Even at the very start, comparing the feeling, the pacing, and the way that games and devs were shown off during the Geurilla Collective compared to the main Summer Games Fest stream, it's rather amazing to see just how devoted to JUST games the former was compared to the latter. I'm not saying that every game was a banger, or that it was totally free of advertisement, but it was very much kept to a minimum, and the games were always front and center, the main attraction.

I compare that to the Summer Games Fest stream where, yes, they had a lot of really good announcements, but much like how the Awards of the Game Awards always felt sort of secondary, the games themselves felt more secondary compared to the brand or the prestige of the stage show. In that way, Summer Games Fest's main show feels like a direct continuation of E3, for better and for worse.

Again, I saw things during the show that I thought were definitely worth checking out, but compared to the absolute deluge of just rapid-fire new game announcements that a lot of the indie showcases were showing off, I found my attention slipping a lot more, just because there was a lot more talking, a lot more sponsorship spots, a lot more attention paid to the fact that it was a show on a stage. There was also a lot more in-person developer talk, which don't get me wrong, it's nice to hear from the devs themselves, but I think that's something that should come out as a supplement after the show is over. The Cozy Gaming Show and the Geurilla collective handled this, in my opinion, the best. There was plenty of dev talk, but it was presented over gameplay meant to demonstrate and enhance what is being told to us, rather than a cinematic or a very cut up and choreographed gameplay segment. It just gives me a much better idea of how a game would feel to play compared to a trailer that is made to get me hyped more than anything.

Maybe I'm just getting boring as the years go on, and I do like a bit of hype now and then, but I really prefer my game trailers to be more straightforward. No dev talk, just a clear indication of what sort of game it is, what it's about, and maybe a bit of intrigue to get me interested in its overarching story or characters. That's all.

I will actually give Microsoft credit for that (not for much else, though, we should still be holding their feet to the fire for how they bought up and then shuttered several studios because of bad deals THEY made). Their show this year was actually pretty good about putting the games front and center. Most of the trailers did still have a feeling of being a more idealized presentation of the games themselves, but all things considered, it was not nearly as bad as the future gaming show or the PC gaming show, where the host banter was especially bad this year. Nothing against the hosts themselves, just that the scripts they were working off of were absolutely insufferable, and there is nothing more uncomfortable and off putting to me than bad gaming banter.

All this being said, it's really a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things. We got HUNDREDS of games announced this year, far too many to reasonably play or even just try in a reasonable manner, but it is important to remember, first impressions tend to matter a lot, and if you want me to take a look at your game after it's been introduced to me, I want to know what I'm getting into.

It can be a very difficult balance to hit, this is true. You don't want to reveal too little, that's just a teaser. Revealing too much can be off-putting as well (Nintendo) because you rob players of the joy or surprise of discovering something for themselves. Again, I think a lot of these indie showcases definitely strike the best chord for that, and the fact that they go out of their way to cram just, so, SO MUCH into those shows is also a massive plus. Even the shorter indie showcases like the Women-Led showcase did a great job of primarily sticking to showing off as many games as they could, putting them in the most interesting light possible.

And at the very least, those shows always have the absolute best variety possible. If I had more time in my week, I would probably go out of my way to list every game I was interested in trying, I'd probably be writing a novella-sized list right now. I love the fact that independent developers are getting more and more of a spotlight and if the trends continue in the direction they have been, I'll be real happy to see things like the Geurilla Collective and Cozy Games direct becoming the standard in the future.