E3

Here are my thoughts on E3 based on the big three:

Microsoft- I dont currently own an Xbox 360, but out of the three hardware owners they seem to be the only ones that know how to impress at E3. I am convinced that Microsoft could sell a bag of crap to Donald Trump if they wanted. Celebrity guest appearances, exclusives no matter how small they are, and great endings are all trademarks of a Microsoft press conference. Im not going to comment on cross platform games but Microsoft has a great exclusive lineup on the way. Its not their best but its very strong. For 2009 they have Halo Odst, Left 4 Dead 2, and Forza 3. Further out than that Mass Effect 2, Alan Wake, and Halo Reach are on the way. I expect Reach to be huge because it lends itself to a class based mulitplayer and with the Halo tag it just makes it that much bigger. On to the show stopper though Project Natal. Now dont get me wrong I think what they showed has some place in games but I would never see myself using that to play much. I owned a Wii for a long time and most of that, it spent collecting dust. Motion control has its place but I firmly believe in precision control and it doesn't offer what an actual controller does. Somehow though Microsoft has a ton of people buzzing about it. That goes back to my first couple of sentences. They show it , they release videos of celebrities playing it , then they roll it out on television on late night with Jimmy Fallon. They are the ultimate salesmen.

Nintendo- At this point do they really need to show up to E3? For the longest time the Wii had this aura about it that something like a Tickle me Elmo had. Oh their super fun and there is a shortage buy it when you see it right? It sold tons but for some reason games dont really sell well on it if they are not made by Nintendo even though there are some exceptions. Their press conference was horrible and VERY boring. The one bright spot for me was Metroid other M. I would expect though that New Super Mario Bros Wii will be right up there with Modern Warfare 2 as this holidays top selling games. I cannot speak for the hardcore Nintendo fans out there but If I was them I would be pissed.

Sony- I think for overall games they had the best lineup. The press conference however, just blows. Having three different software platforms to pitch just kills it for those guys. It makes me so mad to watch them to come out in 2009 and try to pitch the Ps2 to me. They rolled out the Psp go which was already ruined by an leak months early then actually shown by another leak from Sony themselves via Qore. Oh then threw up 249.99 on the screen and killed it. The biggest screw up they made at E3 was they did not drop the price of the PS3. Why do I care I own a PS3 already you ask? Well the more people that get a PS3 , the larger the community becomes and the more support they get from 3rd parties. Even some 3rd party games released today have more issues or look slightly worse than the 360 version because the developers cant justify the work vs how many games they will sale on the PS3. Also, they announced some new video content providers for the PSN video store which was cool but I cannot believe they didnt announce new features for the PSN. Cross game voice chat? Party System? How about fixing this broke web browser? Very disappointing and the Playstation blog just ignores all the requests for these features. The entire marketing team around the Playstation brand as well as the guys that develop the firmware for the PS3 and PSP should be fired. Good job Sony I hope you turn it around or ill be playing your great exclusive games on a future xbox.