| May. 9th, 2006 @ 07:27 pm E3!! |
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I am feeling:  anxious
Song of the Day: Captain Jack - Secret Agent
As many of you surely know, it's time for E3 once again! This is the time when the video game producers show off their new games and technology each year. It's a huge event for gamers and tech enthusiasts alike. Here are my reviews of each of the press conferences. They are copied from WOWAY, so their intros and transitions might seem a bit weird out of context. Bear with it.
Sony
Sony just made their public press conference at E3, and, I have to say, I am very impressed with what they have planned for the PlayStation 3. Their game lineup is still a little lacking, but their technology is supreme.
They will be releasing, with the system, a controller that looks exactly like the PSX and PS2 controllers (thank God they abandoned the boomerang controller) with a built in motion sensitivity (much like the Wii controller). Tilt sensitive, it seemlessly gives players ultimate control of their games. The most impressive display of this was the dogfighting game they showed off during the presentation. I'm having difficulty remembering its title right now, but, I can assure you, it looked amazing.
As far as the graphics go, they are just as good, if not better, than what we have seen on the Xbox 360. I imagine the two systems will be very closely competing for similar target markets.
Sony mentioned something about free online services. I couldn't say whether or not this is absolutely free, unrestricted online gaming and downloading access, or if this is like what Xbox Live has set up now on the 360 that allows free downloading and community, but requires a subscription to play online. Either way, the PS3's online service looks to be close to, if not up to par with the Xbox 360's.
Sony announced that the PS3 will come in two different packages, much like the Xbox 360. One will include a 20GB harddrive (the size of the Xbox 360's harddrive) and the other will include a 60GB harddrive (three times the size of the 360's). No other comments on differences in the packages were made. They will price at $499 and $599, respectively, a price range estimated by consumer reports before the announcement. This is quite a bit more than the Xbox 360, but, who knows? It may just be worth that extra money. The PlayStation 3 will launch worldwide on November 17th, shipping 2 million units. It looks like they have learned from Microsoft's mistake -- no PS3 shortage.
Both Nintendo and Microsoft are giving their press conferences tomorrow. I will be anxiously awaiting each.
Nintendo
Anyways, I just finished watching the Nintendo and Microsoft press conferences. Let's start from the beginning.
The Nintendo conference didn't say anything truely surprising. They unveiled the new Mario game a little bit. Thank God he isn't wearing any stupid contraption on his back this time. It is called Super Mario Galaxy. The graphics are still mediocre for next gen systems, but look better than any other Wii title announced...although that isn't saying a lot. The game looks like it is going to take place on very tiny planets as opposed to the epic worlds Mario fans are used to. This is the only part I didn't like about it. Other than that, I had nothing to pick a bone at. It looks like it will be nothing special, as far as Mario games go, but it will not be a disappointment like Super Mario Sunshine.
They demoed the new Legend of Zelda game, as well. They announced that it would be released the same time as the Wii system launches. They also said that there will be two separate versions -- the GameCube version and the Wii version. Talk before the conference had most believeing that the GameCube verison could be played on the Wii (of course, it can, but not will all of the distinct functions of the Wii controller). I'm not happy about that announcement, but it makes sense. They are really putting a lot of hope into this Zelda game and I think it will really deliver. The graphics were better than I was expecting, but still only up to GameCube level, nothing to compare to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
The only real breakthrough announcements that were made during the Nintendo press conference was that the Wii controller will have a built in speaker. Nothing revolutionary, but news nonetheless. Also, the Wii will have 24 hour internet connectivity that allows other gamers to access your console (for games such as Animal Crossing) at any time of the day, even when the console is off. This will probably lead to PC connectivity someday, but no mention of this was made.
The Wii's contoller capabilities have been shown off, as well. Just the kinds of things that were announced long ago, but it is nice to actually see them in action. Truck driving, conducting, tennis, gunmanship, and some sword action.
I think the biggest letdown was, surprisingly, Red Steel. You must understand, though, I had very high hopes for this game, so a big letdown doesn't mean it was bad -- it just means that it's not as great as they had made it out to be before. The game still looks great, though, and looks like it will be the real Wii console seller for its launch. For those of you who don't know what Red Steel even is, look it up. You'll need to know a bit about it to understand what it is I'm going to say. I was disappointed by two and a half things, in particular. First, the sword mechanics were completely lacking! Instead of the "free sword control" with the Wii controller, gamers will get to guide its general direction. There are programmed swings and combos built into the game, so, while you are still swinging the controller, you're not actually swinging the sword with lifelike freedom like we thought at first. Secondly, the graphics in the first few screenshots must have been rendered. The graphics in the game are mediocre for a next gen game. The fire, glass, water, smoke, and similar effects looked clearly last-gen, and the models used in the game were chunky and lacking of real detail. The third thing was the aiming system. The Wii controller adds quite a bit to the precision aiming of shooting games, but it looks like it has the same problem that plagued N64 shooters -- the game can't determine whether you want to aim your gun a little bit to the right or whether you want to completely turn to the right. Instead, the gamer playing it had to use "nudge" tactics, similar to those familiar with N64 shooter games (precision aiming until you hit the edge of the screen, when it rotates. It is called nudging because, to aim precisely at objects to your right or left without completely overshooting the gap, you sometimes have to nudge the edge of the screen until you're right where you want to be). This might have worked in last generation's shooters, but not in the fast paced action that we are so used to now. The controls, other than that small blip on the radar, looked smooth and fun. The environment was also highly destructable! This is great.
Wii Sports looks pretty good. They had a contest winner from the audience come up and give it a try. They played through a couple rounds of tennis. The tennis racket controls looked very good, but my only concern is a lack of the space needed to perform such actions in the gaming rooms of many fans, especially when playing with four people. The Wii Sports game will come with tennis, baseball, and golf. The graphics aren't great (we saw a surprising amount of framerate blips as it was being displayed), but it looks fun.
I can't remember anything else to really be said about the Nintendo conference...the new Tony Hawk game looks like a total letdown.
The presentation was pretty meh. The speakers weren't great, many struggled to piece together broken English, but they got their points across. Sony's conference had excellent speakers yesterday, so I guess it is hard to really compare up against their's. Nintendo even made jokes about the negative responses to the name of the system. They said something to the effect of, "We really appreciate those of you who wrote positive things about our system name the day we announced it ... both of you." 
The one thing that really made me mad, though, was that they were trying to work around the barrier that they set themselves up -- their graphical capability. It is no secret that the Wii's graphics are about 3/4, if not an entire generation behind the PS3's and Xbox 360's. The Wii representatives were constantly saying "What you see isn't what makes a game, it's what you feel." Well, sure, that's what all games are about, but the Xbox 360 and PS3 managed to keep the unique and fun feel of their systems while still looking marvelous. The thing that the reduced graphics say to me is that Nintendo wasn't willing to really invest into the technology that went into this system. They came out with their gimmick, and felt like that would be enough to keep them afloat through this generation.
Overall, I think it may come across that I am being one sided, or biased against Nintendo, but I am solely basing my opinions off of what I see.
Microsoft
As you know, the press conference for Microsoft also took place today. The stage was kind of "meh". Sony's was the nicest, Nintendo's second, and Microsoft's third. That's not important, though.
The Microsoft press conference was pretty dull. They had a few points of interest like the announcement of Fable 2, new info and footage from Viva Pinata (which they called a kids' game  ), and Windows Vista information.
The conference started off with a nice Gears of War trailer. Everyone expected that this would be the big ticket item of E3, out of any system. They also had a live game demo of Gears of War being played on stage. The graphics of that game never fail to amaze me. The controls look similar to Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter's third person shooter controls. Taking cover with ease, precision aiming...Nothing too surprising about it. It still looks as great as ever.
The Viva Pinata content wasn't anything that I didn't already know, but it was refreshing to see it get some stage time to itself today. Hopefully, the explination of its gameplay engine will help most gamers see past the candy-coated, kiddy exterior of the game, and see the true simulation strategy game that it is.
Not a lot else was too surprising in the Xbox portion of it. They talked about how they hope to expand Xbox Live to include many more classic games (such as Pac-Man, Frogger, and Sonic the Hedgehog) along with independant games, giving these smaller games a platform on which they can really be displayed to millions of gamers. They talked a bit about the Xbox HD DVD player attachment that should be for sale around this holiday season. Let's see...trailer for Fable 2...some games that we already knew about...oh! Grand Theft Auto 4 has been announced to be exclusively hosted on the Xbox 360 next October.
Once the Xbox 360 section was done, they began to talk about the Windows Vista. This looks really nice. They made clear that it is based on the new Direct X 10 and will function as the greatest gaming OS of all time. They showed off a few of the new PC titles (I believe most of them were also coming to Xbox 360). A couple first person shooters, Crysis (which looks pretty darn great) and Shadowrun, I believe it was. A magic vs. technology first person shooter.
The biggest announcement Microsoft made was Live Everywhere...I'm also not sure of that name, but you get the idea. Xbox Live will be accessable from a Windows Vista PC, Xbox 360, and mobile phones. You can play on Live Everywhere on your Xbox 360 against someone playing the same game on their Windows Vista PC. This is very exciting. You can also trade and custom edit game content and transfer it to your Xbox 360. The best part is that you can earn achievements and add to your gamerscore on the PC with the same gamertag as you have on your 360 and cell phone. From your phone, you can schedule events and downloads to take place on your Xbox 360. This is really a great idea. But the weird thing was that Bill Gates was announcing this all, and...hm...do any of you remember that movie Anti-Trust? 
Anyways, they didn't announce Rare's second Xbox 360 game currently in production at the show, but they did at least make a Banjo-Kazooie joke during the Viva Pinata presentation...*Sigh* I guess we'll just have to wait until later in the week and see if Rare says anything.
Oh, and, of course, just like everyone was expecting, they showed off a new teaser trailer for Halo 3. Master Chief is walking through Africa with a Halo: CE assault rifle in hand while being told odd things about his interconnectivity with his little blue hologram woman friend...I can't remember her name. Anyways, some Covenant ships fly overhead and land in some Death Star-esque landing bay out beyond a cliff wall. It's really not that great of a trailer -- it doesn't tell us anything about the game and has no actual in-game footage, but it gave the fanboys something to tide them over until next E3. As you can expect, Halo fanboys are already calling this trailer the greatest thing E3 has had to offer so far...fools  If you want to see the trailer, you can download it from the Xbox Live Marketplace on your 360 or download it from Bungie.net. |
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