Nintendo
As is the case every year at E3, I get pretty excited going into the Nintendo conference. Maybe it’s my enduring love for the company that has been with me since my days of youth or it’s just the fact that I love their innovative ideas that keeps me hooked. Thus, last year I was pretty excited to see some of the stuff that Nintendo had up their sleeves. Unfortunately, seeing Nintendo with such high sales on both of their platforms has led to less need to “wow” their consumers and the media. Basically, if you’re not on board with Nintendo yet, you’re missing out on two of the quickest selling platforms ever. So, last year was quite underwhelming in terms of Wii support, to say the least.
This year, however had me stoked because there were a few titles I had anticipated that would make me quite giddy if released. A few ideas that came to mind included: a hard drive so that I could finally buy more Wii-Ware and have a place to put it; Animal Crossing; some kind of new Metroid game for the DS (please mention something about Metroid Dread); anything else cool from the core genres or something new to wet our appetites. Any of these things would be great additions to the strong lineup of 1st party titles on the Wii.
Arriving at 7:00 in the morning (10:00 Louisville/Lexington KY time), we were encouraged to drink coffee and tea as we waited two and a half hours for the briefing to begin (not breakfast but at least some hospitality). Finally when the briefing started, a snowboarding game called Shaun White Snowboarding was immediately announced and it was demoed by Shaun White himself. The game looked intriguing enough (though I knew I sucked at the snowboarding mini-game in Wii Fit) but I was prepared for the real games. Next, Reggie came on stage and began his usual bit about Nintendo’s stellar numbers. Then there was Animal Crossing: City Folk, a well needed sequel to the GCN and DS titles that has multiple additions including voice chat using the Wii Speak addition, and a small city to visit aside from yours and your friends’ towns.
By the time Wii MotionPlus came around (an attachment to make Wii movement truly one-to-one), I started to get a little bit antsy. I knew that if there was something huge to be announced, it would be at the end of the convention and though Wii Sports Resort is a nice addition to anyone’s library (with a Wii MotionPlus included in the deal), I was waiting for the well awaited core titles that everyone was hoping for or at least a hard drive add-on. After a few short, yet intriguing demos of Wii Sports Resort (Frisbee looked enjoyable but fencing was most enticing), I knew that it was getting close to the big guns.
Announcements about stronger third party support were another plus and new titles such as Grand Theft Auto DS and Guitar Hero on Tour Decades were nice additions to the DS library. Pokémon Rangers Shadows of Alma didn’t make me too excited though the electronic cookbook, DS air travel device, and sports assistant were all intriguing ideas. Still, what about the big titles? Waiting eagerly, I awaited the grand finale…
Amidst a literal drum roll (by a professional drummer with spiky hair), I witnessed Wii Music…and was disappointed. Sure, the game looks interesting enough with over 50 instruments, multiplayer and even drum lessons but without evaluation like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, this was most certainly not the title for a Guitar Hero fanatic like myself. And if only the briefing could continue a little longer. If only there were one more title, the big one we’ve all been waiting for. Unfortunately to my dismay, Reggie and Cammie made their closing remarks and left us with no hard drive, no core titles, no nothing.
We all know that Nintendo has some things under their sleeve (IGN is now reporting that Miyamoto has hinted at sequels to Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Brothers, Pikmin, and Zelda all after the press conference) and we want just a small taste. I guess when your company is so successful that you can be finished with a game like Animal Crossing for several months and not release it so as to not compete with your other hit titles’ sales, you don’t really have to obey by any rules or standards when it comes to press conferences/media briefings. However, it’s still hard to understand their strategy. Why release absolutely no news about the core games and wait until after the briefing to hint at it?
So, for the second year in a row, I was left disappointed with the press conference of my favorite console producer. Without any announcements that would blow me away, I was left stunned by the vow of silence that Nintendo has been known for. Maybe next year they’ll actually mention these blockbuster titles during the briefing so that people don’t have to be left wondering. Grade: C-
Sony
Sony’s briefing started out a little better than Nintendo’s with nice bussing from Nintendo to Sony, loads of free food and drinks, and a more entertaining waiting period (we could watch one of 6 different games being played in real time). Also, the amount of money spent on Sony’s briefing was significantly more than that of Nintendo’s (something that Nintendo also is known for) including 58 HD televisions and 7 projectors. However, if Nintendo’s conference was too short, then Sony’s conference was far longer than necessary (maybe to make up for Nintendo’s lost time). Sure, this is “the year of the PS3” and a great E3 media briefing would only continue the momentum but jeez, do they think they could have added enough stuff into the presentation?
Many different titles were announced as well as a few tricks. New Resistance for both the PS3 and PSP are always nice, as well as God of War 3, new Ratchet and Clank, and Resident Evil 5.Too bad I have yet to own a PS3 (though it’s beginning to entice me more and more). Infamous looked very unique and almost a little like Bioshock. Mag looks absolutely incredible though I can’t determine if the footage was in-game or not (though knowing Sony, it’s probably not).
Playstation Network had a ton of additions to add both to the library of games and to functionality. For one, Sony’s new TV download service makes Playstation network a little more like ITunes (which is most certainly a good move for them). After mentioning SD and HD rentals and purchases (for very reasonable prices), I understood that this will sell very well. The only problem now could be the same problem that Nintendo has, involving a lack of storage (HD movies are pretty large files and an 80 GB hard drive is looking pretty small now). Also, the addition of new Playstation Network game releases is another plus for Sony.
As for the PS2, it’s pretty impressive that there are still going to be over 130 titles created this year but I could care less about any of them since they’re just lesser versions of the current generation games. The PSP, however, included great titles such as Loco Roco 2, Patapon 2, and the ability to download movies from your PS3 that you’ve purchased on PSN.
Still, the lengthiness of the conference was hard to bear, especially after drinking several waters, tea, coffee, and cokes. Other than this personal issue, I would say that Sony had the strongest media briefing this time around, providing exciting information on the PS3, PSP, and PSN. Grade: B+
Microsoft
I went to their media briefing last year and had a lot of fun but this year, it’s a different story. No invitations means no fun and certainly not a good review from me. I don’t really know what they announced yesterday but whatever it was, it’s apparently not important enough for a new site like us (who’s sent staff from our previous site to the past three Microsoft media briefings). Grade: F
