Nick Gravelyn

For me, E3 might as well just be the press briefings given by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Sure, I’ll hear about other things and like other announcements, but the presentations these guys give set the stage for the show and the next year in my book. So I figured I’d just give my take on all the stuff that was announced.

First, the good:

• I’m a huge fan of Project Natal (vision video). I think it’s a great way to help get more inexperienced gamers or non-gamers onto the system by removing the controller. This lets them play more casual games or just use the system for things like Netflix, last.fm radio, or just chatting with friends and family from their couch.

  In addition, I think Natal could be used to supplement more traditional games as well. Since I just got done writing a post on GameDev.net on the subject, I’ll just let you read it there: http://bit.ly/1KeTSU

• The Sony motion controller is also really cool. Is it basically just WiiMote v2? Sure, but that doesn’t make it any less cool. I mean, really, he kicked the crap out of skeletons with a sword and shield and then fired arrows gangster style at oncoming opponents. What isn’t to like in that?

  Sony seems to be the only one that’s really targeting traditional gamers in a big way with their motion controls. It’s definitely an interesting take on it and they seem to have the tech to back it. I was skeptical at first (and was in the “it’s just a WiiMote rip off” camp), but after they showed the demos I was sold hook, line, and sinker that this brings something substantial to the table.

• The Last Guardian is now my most anticipated game, coming from the developers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, my two favorite PS2 games.
• Mod Nation Racers was probably my second favorite game shown, partly because I had no idea it was coming but also because it’s just such a great idea. It’s really a big bullet point on my list of reasons why I should get a PS3.
• MAG is an amazing idea. The key is whether or not 256 players will actually be able to connect up and play without horrible lag and connection issues. I’m all for large scale combat, so please make this happen.
• Halo ODST and Halo Reach have me intrigued, but I’m not entirely sold yet. I’m far more excited about the idea of Halo Reach, but I need to see some gameplay to know what that’s all about. Buying ODST gets you into the multiplayer beta for Reach so maybe I’ll pick that up. Plus I’m sure I’ll have some fun doing the campaign (assuming it has co-op).
• The improvements to the Netflix experience on Xbox 360 are really great. Being able to browse from the Xbox 360 really adds a lot of value to it.
• User ratings were announced the day of (but not at) the MS press conference. Everything on LIVE Marketplace will have user ratings (1-5 stars) in one of the updates coming this year. This includes Community Games which is something I know a lot of developers have realy wanted.
• And of course Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Crackdown 2 are all poised to eat up far more time of my life than I really should let them. But assuming they’re as good as their predecessors, those will all be really great games.

The “WTF?”:

I’m not even sure I have to say anything more.

The Bad:

• No price drop for PS3. It’s still expensive and I’m still reluctant to drop $400 on another console. Come on, Sony. Make me a $250 or $300 model and that’ll get me owning one much faster.
• Lots of number dropping. Maybe it’s great for publishers to hear or something, but I just get so fed up with Sony and Nintendo (primarily; I didn’t hear as much of it from Microsoft) dropping numbers on download counts, install bases, and profits. As a consumer, I don’t care. I just want to see the cool stuff I can buy.
• Sony’s video montages will forever annoy me. Why they choose to show me a video of five virtual displays showing the actual montage instead of just giving me a full screen video of the montage is beyond me.
• Nintendo. Just about everything about them at this show did nothing for me. The only game they showed I care at all about is the new Golden Sun and I’m sure I’m just going to forget about that by the time it comes out.
• Lots of drab looking sequels and other franchise games I don’t care about (but I’m sure are making some people really rich).

So that’s basically it. There are probably some things I missed, but that’s bound to happen when trying to recap six hours of press conferences from three companies showing dozens of games all by memory. It’s definitely a good year for games and now I can’t wait to get my hands on some of these games this fall. Now the usual problem of finding the money for all of them…