I wanted to jot down my thoughts on this year’s E3 before I forget, because I will forget, because this year sucked.
It seems like the competition came out as sort of a wash this year. Scaling down the event obviously hurt smaller companies who have big ideas, and the show was sort of an oversaturation of the big three’s first party games. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft all played it safe, and didn’t really show a damn thing an educated consumer wouldn’t know about.
It’s true.
Nintendo showed off stuff like Super Mario Galaxies and their idea of a fitness pad. It looks fun and innovative. Whoopee. Noticably absent were new games like Metroid, SSBB, and anything that wasn’t a conglomeration of party games. Their new little fitness pad thing is kinda cool, and I’m looking forward to trying it out some day, but the Nintendo showing didn’t exactly inspire irrational enthusiasm. They did make me lust after women who do yoga, but that’s so very easy.
Think thin, play your Nintendo!
Microsoft fell into the trap of showing off things that would only be available within the next six months, showing off only a handful of surprises that most people already knew about, like Resident Evil 5. Their keynote was absolutely lackluster. They took time out of our lives to show off a Master Chief green console? STFU. Peter Molyneux gave terrific demonstrations of Fable 2, but he’s bitten the hand that feeds him one too many times to elevate his baby into a top tier game.
xuenylom
Sony’s keynote was slightly more interesting, and I’d have to say they edged out a win this year. Which would be cause for congratulations, but really, considering the pace of things, it was like they won the hundred meter dash at the special olympics. Bless their hearts. Before the PS3 was released, Sony tried to BS a bunch of pre-rendered movies as gameplay footage and nobody fell for it. They tried to make up for that by rendering one of the more infamous trailers with an in game engine, and eh… Not quite looking as sharp. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that Killzone 2 looks fugly in places, but, of course, its an unfinished game and doesn’t deserve such harsh criticism just yet. What does deserve harsh criticism: Before E3, Sony hyped a $100 price cut for the PS3, and then announced the model that the price cut would effect is no longer in production.
How can you tell when Kaz Hirai is bullshitting? His lips are moving.