Hey: E3 Editorial

Hey, it's a bit old: I posted this on GF on Wednesday, but maybe some of you would enjoy reading this.  Now I know that there is also a bit of controversy on the stire recently about Gamestooge, and links being dropped. If I come across as pushing GF too much, please just send me a PM as opposed to saying something in the forum for a couple of reasons. A) I may not go back tot he thread, so I will never know that I am crossing a line. B) more drama=bad for 202p.  I try not to jsut drop links, or push it too much. But I do put a lot of work into it and I want to share. It's a tough line to walk.

E3: Overlooked Hits, Misses, Honorable Mentions from the Big Three

So we’ve heard from the big hitters, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony.  They all had their challenges and the things they need to touch upon in order to push their brand tot he next level. But how did they rate?  Here is a list of some of the overlooked hits, misses and honorable mentions for each of the big three.


Microsoft

Hit

Fallout 3. While everyone is excited about Gears of War 2, and are trying to figure out what the new party system in the new dashboard is going  to actually do, Fallout 3 has blown me away. The demo showed off major gameplay aspects like the V.A.T.S. system, the openness, some of the perks and of course pip-boy 3000. Having “Bloody Mess” perk activated was genius as the fanboys in the press galleries love their bloody messes!

Miss

No price cut for the Xbox 360 hard drive. With all of the games on XBLA, with the avatars, running movies, pictures, music, we are all going to need more space. And they didn’t give us a price cut.  For shame Microsoft, it’s almost like you are in it for the money.

Honorable Mention

Fable 2: Ambient Orbs system. Basically if you are playing the game, you can see ambient obs, which are your friends playing in their own world. With one click of a button (ONE CLICK!) Your friend can join you in your own world. This is fantastic, and if it works properly will galvanize on line play. You don’t have to stop your game, go into a lobby or whatever... just invite them in and go have fun.


Nintendo

Hit

Shaun White did a fantastic job of trying to sell his involvement and the authenticity in his game: Shaun White’s Snowboarding. The kid hit all his marks: how the game actually feels like snowboarding, , how he tried to help the company capture how things look when you are actually snowboarding, how the game is fun. He did all this with a crazy lady beside him. Kudos young man!

Miss

To be fair, I really enjoyed Nintendo’s speech about the state of the union. They talked about how common sense makes sense, until there is a paradigm shift, and then it doesn’t make sense any more. How they were striving to change the face of gaming by creating titles that stood up to the test of time and could sell for years a la Nintendogs, how gamers will sacrifice gorgeous complex graphics if the gameplay rocks, and how to open up the gamer base to people we never thought of as gamers. This is a company intent on breaking down psychological barriers to gaming. The problem? This speech would have worked with a bunch of shareholder or CEOs. Not so much for the gaming media at E3. We just want to hear about the great games, not your vision.

Honorable Mention

The drum kit blew me away. That looks COOL.

Sony

Hit

Sony did what they needed to do. They had the best presentation, Jack Tretton was funny, entertaining and obviously comfortable in front of such a huge stage. He got across his points (what, me worry?) And he showed off great games. MAG: 256 people on line together?! On a CONSOLE?! You KIDDING me?!

Miss

The elephant in the room was Final Fantasy XIII being released for the Xbox 360 in North America. No mention of it, which was the right thing to do, but DAMN!

Honorable Mention

Using LittleBig Planet to show of their numbers did three things. It showed off their sense of whimsy, they came across as tongue in cheek and kinda cool. It showed off their numbers and it showed off LittleBigPlanet. Amazing job.

But these are just an opinion: what are you thinking about the big three? What did you miss or what was unexpected?