Microsoft
Overall, a really good show. Still yet to hear Sony's full conference, but they'd easily be "winning" E3. They had a good mix of announcements for the hardcore and casual gamer. Some key points:
- FFXIII to 360. Seriously, if Sony released the PS4 next week, it still wouldn't top Microsoft getting FFXIII. To put this into perspective, last week this was like the PS3 getting the next Super Mario game. A killer blow for Sony.
- Lips; basically Microsoft's entry into the "rhythm" genre (Guitar Hero/Rock Band etc). Rhythm games are huge at the moment (read: sales) so Microsoft are right to get in on the act. It looks original too, seems to have some sort of file sharing service - which is unheard of in rhythm games at the moment.
- Their new dashboard, Xbox Experience. Basically a new paint job. Totally copying Nintendo's Mii service (with your own personalised avatar) but that can you do, Nintendo have been dealing with that shit all their life
- Digital distribution. This is a big one, Microsoft got a partnership with Netflix going. You all know who Netflix are and what they do, and basically, you can now do that on/through your 360. Pretty cool.
Nintendo
Really poor. And this is coming from a Nintendo fanboy. I don't even need to the rest of Sony's conference and I can already tell you Nintendo gave the worst showing of the big 3 this year. The key points:
- Animal Crossing Wii coming later this year. Well, we already knew that.
- Wii Speak; this could be alright. Voice chat on a Nintendo console, but with their crappy online service... it won't mean much. The speaker sits on your TV and it broadcasts into your room... so you can't have a private conversation and you pretty much have to talk to your TV.
- Wii Music. All you need to know is that you waggle the Wii-mote to use different instruments (drums, saxophone, microphone, orchestra). There's reportedly over 50.
- GTA on DS. Wtf.
- Wii "Motion Plus" - the only secret I was happy to hear. Its an addon to the Wii-mote that Nintendo will be shipping out with Wii Sports: Resort (read: Wii Sports 2), which gives the Wii-mote better control, more fluid motions... 1:1, people. Hell yeahs!
Sony
A pretty good show from Sony. I'd even go so far as to say that they won E3.
- God of War 3 announced. Nothing mind blowing, we all knew it was coming, but it was nice to see a small trailer.
- MAG (Massive Action Game). Touted by Sony as having online battles for up to 256 players - all at once. Looks like a SOCOM MMO, very heavy character development. Exciting stuff
- New 80GB SKU. Looking like Sony will eventually faze out the 40GB (they even went so far as to call it the "predecessor" in the press release) and the other 80GB (which has backwards compatibility). Entering the market at US $399.
- New Ratchet and Clank game coming to PSN, downloadable.
- The biggest reveal: video rental to PS3 (and you can watch them on your PSP), launched last night. Sony have signed on basically every major movie studio - digital distribution is the future, people.
- LittleBigPlanet pushed back to Oct 08. Don't expect to see this in Aus until 09, guys. I'm thinking Q1 09.
- HOME still not ready, but it looks awesome. No release date in sight, it could be a while. Shame because this is what Sony need to bring in more PS3 users.
And that's E3. Good showing from all (except Ninty). I didn't profile any of the companies big games (Gears Of War 2/Resident Evil 5/Call of Duty 5/de blob) unless it was a new announcement - and apart from God Of War 3, we didn't see anything that we didn't already know about. If you're after trailers (there were a lot of them) GameTrailers will be your best bet, they'll have everything.
Microsoft and Sony both gave their fans some hype for the coming year, but Nintendo didn't give us anything to look forward to for the coming year... Wii Music and Animal Crossing can only do so much. I know we didn't need to see another Mario or Zelda, but what about Pikmin 3, Starfox, F-Zero? Sigh. Maybe we'll see something at TGS.
