This year’s E3 has been excellent in many different ways. The atmosphere here has all of the excitement and spark from years past (05, 06, but definitely not 07 and 08), and everything just seems better in general — less of a crowd, less waiting time to play games, more time with the developers, better Internet speeds, etc.
My trip here really began on Monday with Microsoft’s Media Briefing, which it’s safe to say exceeded everyone’s expectations. Every exclusive game they showed in their presentation looks like a contender in their respective genre, and I would probably have to give Crackdown 2 the slight edge as being the 360 exclusive I am personally most looking forward to. That said, their other (console) exclusives include powerhouse franchises like Splinter Cell, Forza Motorsport, Left 4 Dead, and HALO, all of which are likely to be hit titles.
That alone would have made for a decent-to-good showing for Microsoft, but additional exclusives like Alan Wake and Shadow Complex, and the fact that Metal Gear Solid is coming to the 360 really elevates Microsoft’s position going forward. And last but not least, their announcement of the very ambitious and interesting Project Natal shocked and amazed many, but what impact it will have on the future of gaming remains to be seen. Lastly, partnership announcements with Last.fm, Facebook, and Twitter may appeal to some but I could personally careless. The updated Video Store, with streaming 1080p picture is however a more enticing announcement.
The following morning was Nintendo’s turn, and then Sony’s. Everyone I have talked to agreed that while Nintendo’s show wasn’t bad, it was still the weakest of the big three. More accessories and more niche market titles were either announced or demoed, much to the disinterest of the gaming community. Now that’s not to say the Big N didn’t have some great surprises to announce, such as Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Golden Sun DS, and Metroid: Other M. All of those were received with much applause and there is little doubt that Nintendo will benefit greatly from thoes releases.
On the other hand, I think a lot of us, including myself, feel a little jaded by Wii MotionPlus and the Vitality Sensor announcement. What is promised by Wii MotionPlus sounds eerily familiar to what we heard from Nintendo in 2006, before the console’s launch in late November of that same year. So now consumers are asked to buy yet another accessory for their Wii later this year, and perhaps yet another still with the mysterious Vitality Sensor.
In summary, I thought Nintendo might have a worse outing but their big ticket software items will carry them through the remainder of this year. However, I don’t believe that their continuing goals of wanting to attract everyone into gaming is neither necessary for the industry, nor wise for Nintendo to pursue. As Nintendo themselves stated, the gaming industry is bigger than every, indeed partly due to their Wii and its appeal to casual and previously-non-gamers alike. That said, there is a threshold to be reached, at which point they must get back to focusing on the true, core market of gamers. I personally hope that Nintendo realizes that they are diluting their own market and spreading themselves too thin. I hope by the time next year’s show rolls around they are more focused on the true gamer market, rather than trying to appeal to everyone all the time.
After a brief shuttle ride, I arrived at SCEA’s conference. This was the one I had been most excited about going into the show because I feel that Sony and their products appeal to me more directly than any other. By this point, some of Sony’s big secrets had already been leaked but they still had several big annoucements to share. Of course the PSP Go was the biggest leak, but I think it will do well and I am strongly considering picking on up by year’s end, even though I am perfectly happy with my launch PSP.
I believe that Sony’s exclusive game lineup across all of their major platforms (PS3, PSP, PSN) is signifcantly more exciting than any other platform’s announcements. Certainly the new Uncharted, God of War, and Ratchet & Clank titles have millions of gamers sweating at their palms in anticipation, while new franchises like MAG, White Knight Chronicles, Heavy Rain, and Agent, are sure to garner a large following themselves.
The PSP was no slouch either with not only hardware annoucement, but a huge drop in the price of development kits which should result in lots of new and exciting IP for the slick portable. The annoucement of MGS: Peace Walker as a true sequel in the MGS canon was a huge deal, and everyone seemed impressed with Gran Turismo Portable as well. Personally, I am perhaps most excited about the fleeting glimpse of echocronos that I saw in a montage trailer they showed with lots of other fine looking PSP games.
The tech demoes of the PS Motion Controller was wildly received, and I think it’s more plausible and would be more fun than what Natal had to offer, frankly because I believe that there is a sweet spot in between what Natal is striving for and what the Wii MotionPlus is capable of — and I believe that sweet spot is what was demoed at SCEA’s Media Briefing.
With another 100+ games coming to the PS2 and highly anticipated titles like Fat Princess, the new PixelJunk coming to PSN, I thought that SCEA had the most exciting and complete gaming briefing of the big three.
When the Briefings were over, it was time to hit the show floor. I’ve already posted several impression articles and lots of live audio on many of the games I was able to play, but to quickly sum up, I was very pleased with the offerings out there for titles coming late this year and into next year. Naturally my personal favorite would have to be God of War III, but other not so obvious surprises and picks at this time would include Darksiders, Alpha Protocol, Bayonetta, Brutal Legend, Heavy Rain, and even a small but very interesting DSiware title known as Reflection.
The final point I would want to make about this next year in gaming is that’s going to be a hell of a year. As the holiday rush starts to pick up steam (yes, already), gamers will have once again a massive back log of great and top notch titles to enjoy until we do it all again next year in LA.
