Just like many great celebrations which many of us look forward to, E3 only comes around once a year, and for the more serious players and journalist type, it’s a week of excitement and surprise all happening at 100 mph.
E3 had been a special one this year, as it hasn’t been the overcrowded open E3 we all loved and knew for a couple of years, and the fact that E3 was big again just heightened anticipation for even bigger announcements from the Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony conferences . Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean much to the non participators of the event, who still have to spend the first 15-20 minutes fumbling with several stream services trying to get a live recording; however, troublesome web services aside, it's whether the fiddling and messing about has been traded in for an integrated live TV feature, along with some great games, that msxbox will be assessing in this quick looking back review.
Microsoft’s Press Conference - Lee Burton
Microsoft kicked off the show as usual, and with a bang they did, there was no gradual build at this year’s E3 as Microsoft had a lot to say. Some news hadn’t been news at all, yet others were pretty mind blowing in proportion, and they covered everything from new titles, services and peripherals.
I’d firstly like to point out that the big three (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony) hadn’t spieled so much of the statistic industry performance jargon as they had done previously, it’s quite gratifying to know they’ve realised that a lot of numbers, charts, and results don’t really mean anything to the gaming audience. And I think Microsoft were the least of the three this year to talk numbers.
Although Microsoft’s conference had been everything for all types of audiences here, in terms of actual games, there wasn’t any real surprise announcement of such. We had gotten to see some of the most anticipated of titles; such as the all new and rebranded Modern Warfare 2, and the revealing of the secret Kojima project – which was and wasn’t a surprise. These may haven’t had been a huge shock to the system, but what was shown I think was more than satisfying.
I think the majority can agree there were a couple of titles of which we originally may have not been interested in, and at least look intriguing after an impressive showing. The opening of The Beatles Rock Band, I know for a fact that I’m not interested in music based console games, but after watching that charming and stylistic introduction mixed with some brief showings of stardom, makes me feel there’s something special to be experienced here.
And last but not least, the jaw dropping yet enquiring announcement of project Natal. As soon as I saw Steven Spielberg and witnessed the hand menu scrolling of the Xbox 360 dashboard, I wanted to go and watch the Minority Report again. Some of the elements shown by this boundary free technology I can see myself using, and using well, others I feel to be almost unbelievable until I try it myself; such as the character interaction that had been shown from Lionhead’s Milo demonstration.
There had been a few moments in the Microsoft press conference I questioned and wondered whether it was too good to be true, and then one or two bits where I had been disappointed in what was shown. Overall though, through presentation, pacing, and content, the Microsoft press conference had been very enjoyable to watch throughout.
Ubisoft's Press Conference - Wayne Julian
Unless you're a huge Nintendo fan, then you could have easily passed out for an hour during Ubisoft's press conference before you get to the good stuff. It was pretty much all Nintendo talk, with discussions of Ubisoft developers who like Rabbids just a little bit (uncomfortably) too much. There was some interesting details when James Cameron hit the stage to talk about the movie tie-in game that Ubisoft are working on following his Avatar film, which actually sounded very interesting, though not even a trailer was shown for either – which was disappointing.
The main highlight seemingly came in the form of Splinter Cell: Conviction (and the rather entertaining host), though the SC: Conviction demo was merely the same that was demonstrated at Microsoft's press conference, although it was a bit lengthier and as such had a little bit more to showcase. The main anticipation came in the form of seeing Assassin's Creed II in action, although only a trailer was shown, where as the game was later demonstrated at Sony's press conference.
Sadly there was no news around other Tom Clancy franchises such as Rainbow Six or the Ghost Recon series. For the Nintendo fan, there would have been no doubt a lot of information take in, for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 gamers, there was very little to get excited about that was actually demonstrated.
Nintendo’s Press Conference - Lee Burton
After Microsoft setting its high bar, Nintendo had a lot to live up to in comparison, and as expected the conference wasn’t quite as spectacular in terms of enthusiasm and content, but to be honest, it would have been significantly hard for any conference to do the same.
What Nintendo did offer though was some more surprises, almost nothing had been leaked and there were a lot less pre-announced titles shown. Cammie and Reggie put on a solid show, and were able to get to the point with everything they had to show to the press and public; however this was also where I noticed there to be a lack of enthusiasm and/or interest this year. Cammie’s overly passionate presentation last year seemed to contrast this year, as her smile was turned upside down and she looked terribly serious for a system that was all about the easy going casual audience, I think something may have been mentioned, which is a shame as it gave the initial impression that they were unconfident professionally. Some though may prefer this mood, as although for a lot of people this is about gaming; it’s also a professional industry.
It was great to see another classic Super Mario game, with all its classic Mario platforming mechanics, but now with four player cooperative. It’s such a simple and obvious addition that really revolutionises the genre, as so many small cooperative elements can be added. It was also refreshing to hear there will be another Super Mario Galaxy game, and of course another Metroid title, so it really was an overly authentic title line-up for Nintendo this year, which was, in my opinion, a good move.
But, of course, you can’t have a Nintendo showing in this modern time without giving some form of innovation to the Wii motion controllers, and Wii “motion +” was all the rave this time. I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks that this technology should have been included with the Wii controller in the first place, but I suppose it’s nice they’re always looking for new ways of improvement, and Nintendo spent a lot of time showing off its capabilities with the likes of Wii Sports Resort.
There had also been the introduction of another new hardware announcement, this was for me particularly annoying as I was hoping to go through one major conference without the announcement of some new plastic peripheral, but Nintendo had to slip in the “Vitality Sensor” of which I’m still confused of its purpose and use for a gaming console.
On a high note though, I think it can definitely be said that Nintendo’s show had a lot more going for it if you compared it to their previous effort, instead of just industry competitors. There were more games to be found; and a variety of different titles this time spanning from classic innovations to interactive based entertainment. I still feel that Cammie’s and Reggie’s surprisingly glum presence on stage was unsuited, but I suppose that’s just a matter of preference.
Sony's Press Conference - Wayne Julian
Sony's Conference proved to be interesting to say the least. Their big news was the already leaked, and therefore not so impactful PSP Go 'official' announcement. The new handheld drops the UMD drive and relies on the PlayStation Store to acquire new PSP games to be purchased and stored on the internal 16GB internal memory. Naturally the device sports a new 'slide-open' look with the basic controls tucked away, perhaps making it that much more appealing as a sat-nav device.
While the big news at the Microsoft conference was controller-less Project Natal, and Hideo Kojima's appearance to announce Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Sony also had some similar announcements for their own conference. Hideo Kojima also made an appearance at Sony's conference to announce yet another game, only this time it was for Sony's handheld, which seemed to be getting a lot of love at the show (especially that pink PSP...). Kojima's new game for the PSP is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and looks to take the more traditional 'Tactical Espionage Action' that fans have come to expect from the series.The other bombshell of an announcement, besides the Pink PSP, came in the form of the Final Fantasy XIV teaser trailer, which was announced as a PlayStation 3 exclusive. This really was a surprise, considering Final Fantasy XIII is not even released until next year. Though while Xbox 360 fans hearts may have been pounding heavily in envy, a sigh of relief came at the end of the trailer when the 'full' title was revealed as, Final Fantasy XIV... Online.
Sony, much like Microsoft, demonstrated something 'Wii-like' to get the attention of the casual gamer. This part of the presentation certainly seemed rushed and not presented very well, leading us to believe that Sony felt the need to demonstrate their tech ahead of schedule simply based on Microsoft's showing of Project Natal the day before. Either way, it was impressive, though unlike Microsoft's approach Sony will actually have motion controllers similar to the Wii as well as utilizing their high-resolution PlayStation Eye camera. The whole motion controllers concept is something that for me, I remain sceptical of, which is the reason I don't own Nintendo's Wii console. Though there's certainly some interesting and unique opportunities that this should bring forward for both Microsoft and Sony, should the devices launch, hopefully sometime soon with some games to go alongside them.
The Sony conference overall, at least if you're a PS3/PSP owner certainly had some interesting news and showings, what with the PSP Go and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker announcement, not forgetting the hand-held Gran Turismo game for the PSP as well. What was more impressive of course, once you got past 'the talking,' was the exclusive games that were demonstrated, a few titles that immediately stand out for the PS3 are of course God of War III and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which both look phenomenal. Also, taking a leaf out of Microsoft's play book, Sony surprisingly had Ubisoft showcase Assassin's Creed II on the PlayStation 3 first at their press conference. The game is obviously multi-platform, but competitive wise, it's good to see Sony get back on track with third party developers, which previously seemed to be Microsoft's role, the latter obviously having Infinity Ward showcase the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 for example, which is also multi-platform.
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Date: 2009-06-15
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