E3 2009 (MS/Sony/Nindy)

Thoughts?

I was personally laughing when I saw the MS motion thing.

Then I realized it could be great....epic even...
Then I recalled the 'Eye Toy' and promptly shut up.

Feel sorry for PS2 owners, this is the final year...I can't recall hearing about one game I cared for.

*sigh*

Guess it's finally time to 'upgrade' to a new system.

Well I think M$ had a very strong showing. They've got major title support now and
they are moving to combat Nintendo. My only worry is that they are putting major titles
off too far. They need one or two major games to last through the summer.

Nintendo - I just read their keynote overview and they also had a moderate to strong showing. For people that love N and have a Wii or DSi, I'd imagine they are pretty happy.
A lot of Mario games, more Wii interaction junk... bunch of games.

Honestly though, they still fail to cater towards any hardcore gamer. Unless you're interested in the whole Wii deal... or have a DS.. then the whole thing is uninteresting.
I've no ill will towards the N... I grew up exclusively on Nintendo and all my equipment still works. I'm tired of the same jumpy Mario though. Give me Wii steering wheel hooked to a warthog... with force feedback so I can feel when I roll over the bodies of my foes... and that'll be cool. Get my drift?

Sony... they need to stop. Just end the pain and go away like Sega did. Enough.
They need an awesome E3 keynote, and not just "oh here rehashed versions of our equipment" - they need major titles... a lot of them... completely revise their online service. Get things a lot cheaper, like cut in half. That'd be a start.

Only game I'd buy a PS3 for would be ZOE 3. But honestly I'd rather see it on 360 because the online service would do it more justice.

So we'll see, Sony's keynote is starting now.

Well as a follow up:

Sony had a pretty decent showing, but most of it relied on Metal Gear and FF games.
The 256 player combat game is a nice idea, but MS is working on one too. 256 players
is also hard to maintain... and even more hard to organize or enjoy. Trust me, I've
been there.

The PSPgo... utter failure. The internets are ablaze with the anger at Sony's pricing
and lack of features that it was well known, people expected. Out of almost 6500 votes, only 494 people are interested in buying it (source engadget).

They also didn't say anything about the PS3 Slim, or a price drop. Home was still a joke.

The only areas that shined, were a limited library of PS related titles (ie remakes) from previous years, and their motion controller.

Truely we've entered into the Motion Wars.
There was something I can say positive, and that is that I think Sony's display of what the motion controller could be used for, and their kart racer... was better than Microsoft's version.

While I yearn to see a equipmentless motion tracker, the problem is going to be how do you register button presses like firing a shotgun... or something obscured from the camera's view (like behind an arm)? I want COD and Halo compatibility... I want to squeeze off each shot if I feel like it. Force feedback is also very useful for establishing the game world around the player. Where's my Barret 50 cal / UNSC approved peripheral with real shoulder kicking action? ^_^

Sony's system, as mentioned by others, is an in between with M$ and the big N.
While the glowing microphone shape absolutely has to go... I think they might have something.

The problem is that it may well be too little too late. Their games don't cater to the off the couch crowd... they cater to the highly cinematic blood and guts crowd. The hardware is still way too expensive, and the PSPgo is a failure.



So ultimately, I have to give this E3's crown to Microsoft. Maybe not a super amazing showing, but well rounded and has the staying power to see it through. They also didn't do anything stupid, like the PSPgo.

Something that does get my goat... is everyone showing off games for summer of 2010...
That is just a waste, and annoyance. A lot of people will have forgotten the games until next E3. It nothing more than filler... and is ridiculous.