In the next couple weeks I’ll be trying to sum up all the events, games, and consoles that I saw at E3 this year. To begin with this seemingly impossible task, I thought I would first talk about the Xbox 360. To start I must say that no one should be making any speculation as to what console is better before actually seeing the content. Many people seem to have their minds made up before playing any games, which is where gamers get sucked in by the hype. That being said Microsoft did show an impressive amount of tangible product on the show room floor.
In terms of games, the Xbox 360 seems to be really focusing on content this time around. Each preview we tested was good enough for me to have in my new library of Next Gen games of the future. This means it may even get me to stop playing Halo 2 for a while! Sega had an impressive showing on the Xbox 360 with both Full Auto and Condemned: Criminal Origins. Full Auto was is an intense ‘Spy Hunter’ like racing game that allowed players to compete in large and highly destructive tracks while still getting their FPS fix. Criminal Origins seemed to be a horror slash street fighting FPS although very little shooting actually took place in the demo. Mostly your player went through dimly lit alley ways beating homeless people over the heads with iron pipes. Since this article is all about the console, I’ll get back to the games at a later time. The real question is, how did they look? To be honest, almost all the games left me excited about the graphics.
Full Auto allowed players to see not only high level graphics, but smooth game play while the screen was filled with hundreds of explosions, fire fights, missiles, cars and buildings.
We were actually taken back by how much action was on the screen at one time. The real story was that none of this non-stop action slowed down the frame rates. Being as skeptical as I am I decided that this was not going to be how the actual game looked upon release. I took my doubt to one of the developers on hand to see what, if any, response I could get from him. While he was tight lipped about most specs of the game, I was told that the game was in fact running at about half the resolution that the final would be seen at. This was more then a shock as I was already floored with the look of the game. He assured me that the game play and graphics would only get better and that we would be able to race against 8 players on screen without losing any frame rate.
Games like Kameo also gave the same brilliance in graphics while allowing multiple enemies on screen at one time. At their demo we saw that even the development 360 could handle hundreds if not thousands of enemies on screen at one time. Each enemy was capable of their own AI and fought with their own animations. The scene showed a real time war with Kameo on horse back smashing her way through a literal sea of enemies while the game played smooth and silky. While I’m not sure if this actual piece of game will make that final cut, I can almost guarantee that we will see even better graphics once the real hardware is built.
Speaking of hardware, I need to come back to the development 360 that the games were being run on. As you may have already heard, the Xbox 360 is still not ready to be shipped. In fact, it appeared that the game demos were being run on two Power Mac G5’s hidden under the MS kiosks. The Xbox 360 we saw simply was a ‘face’ for the people to see. Some thought this might be an indication that the Xbox was weaker then the actual demos we saw. On the contrary these development kits were running well under spec with aliasing turned off. This is a huge indication of how the games could look once launched. Not to mention that software developer has yet to even scratch the surface of what the 360 is capable of. If you remember past consoles, the PS2 games were very hard to develop for and many software companies had a lot of trouble creating compelling content in the beginning months of its’ release. Since the Xbox promises to be an easy platform to design for, we could great software much earlier then anticipated. Take for instance Gear Wars. This game looked to be showing off as much of the 360 muscle as possible. From lighting to facial features it almost looked to real.
That seems to be why many software developers are running over to the side of Microsoft. With its new easy to manage development platform, developers can build content for PC and Xbox for far less money then before. This means we are going to see games from Square Enix like Final Fantasy that will be played on both Xbox 360 and PC at the same time. Worlds will be melted together so that PC gamers have a chance to play with console gamers seamlessly. This is where MS seems to shine. They not only have a platform that is easy to design for, but they give developers full use of their Xbox Live network as well. They don’t have to leave the online content up to the software companies. Instead, they mix games with all home entertainment. This insures all Xbox Live members can get the content they want when they want it.
Their online interface showed how a 360 user could be watching TV steaming from their PC while still having the ability to access their friends list and message with video or audio. Xbox has taken multi media just as seriously as they have their games. It looks as though the next 360 will give you one unit to control all your content. The living room will be a lot easier to manage once 360 is here by connecting your PC wirelessly to your Xbox. Want to download new content; the Xbox has you covered with their online market place. You can check out new games demos, trade maps, and download race tracks and beyond. We even saw how many other portables might be able to connect with the Xbox 360 (iPod anyone). In all the Xbox Live service is an attempt to connect friends with each other even when not playing games. For some one like me who has made many friends from 2old2play this is great way to stay in touch.
Now that we covered most aspects of the console, how does it look and feel? Well, after getting my hands on the controller, I am very pleased.
The new controller has the same familiar feel as the old Xbox S controller yet it has a better touch then before. They seem to use a plastic with a more rubbery texture. I was also told that the final controller would be even lighter then the demo one I was using. Since it will be wireless with a battery I kind of find this hard to believe, but I’m optimistic. The center button takes you directly to the main Xbox Live interface no matter where you are in the game. I can see this as a problem if you accidentally press it during a heated game, but its location does seem fairly safe. The only aspect of the controller that I did not like was the new shoulder buttons. They seem to be positioned just out of reach from all useful fingers. Normally I would use my index finger for the trigger only, but with this setup you must move it off the main trigger to the shoulder buttons as well. That is unless you want to use your index finger for the shoulder buttons exclusively but this is not a comfortable solution. Shoulder buttons aside, the console looks great. Some don’t seem to like its concave look, but I think the mixing of face plates will give everyone a little uniqueness with their console. We were told that MS will have over 100 face plates available at launch and from the examples we saw, I can’t wait. I for one have my eyes set on the wood grain face plate as well as the city-scape.
In the end, MS really gave a lot to the people at E3 to think about. The specs about three 3.2 Ghz processors, cell cores, and other consoles seems to be irrelevant to me at this point. The idea of video games is to have great content. Microsoft seems to have built themselves one of the better First party franchises. They also have secured some of the biggest names in the industry to produce Xbox only games and other 3rd party software. To many people look at specs and think that is what makes a great game. Nintendo has proven to all of us that it’s content that is king. They lead by software and compelling content and I think this is one area that MS is picking up on. Sony does have an impressive library of games and should be able to leverage their huge fan base next time around. Unfortunately they did not give people any tangible product to sink their fingers into. So until then we just have to wait for the games.
If you want to check out all the photos that I took of the Xbox 360 click on the link below.
Xbox 360 Photo Gallery
Full Auto allowed players to see not only high level graphics, but smooth game play while the screen was filled with hundreds of explosions, fire fights, missiles, cars and buildings.
Games like Kameo also gave the same brilliance in graphics while allowing multiple enemies on screen at one time. At their demo we saw that even the development 360 could handle hundreds if not thousands of enemies on screen at one time. Each enemy was capable of their own AI and fought with their own animations. The scene showed a real time war with Kameo on horse back smashing her way through a literal sea of enemies while the game played smooth and silky. While I’m not sure if this actual piece of game will make that final cut, I can almost guarantee that we will see even better graphics once the real hardware is built.
Speaking of hardware, I need to come back to the development 360 that the games were being run on. As you may have already heard, the Xbox 360 is still not ready to be shipped. In fact, it appeared that the game demos were being run on two Power Mac G5’s hidden under the MS kiosks. The Xbox 360 we saw simply was a ‘face’ for the people to see. Some thought this might be an indication that the Xbox was weaker then the actual demos we saw. On the contrary these development kits were running well under spec with aliasing turned off. This is a huge indication of how the games could look once launched. Not to mention that software developer has yet to even scratch the surface of what the 360 is capable of. If you remember past consoles, the PS2 games were very hard to develop for and many software companies had a lot of trouble creating compelling content in the beginning months of its’ release. Since the Xbox promises to be an easy platform to design for, we could great software much earlier then anticipated. Take for instance Gear Wars. This game looked to be showing off as much of the 360 muscle as possible. From lighting to facial features it almost looked to real.
That seems to be why many software developers are running over to the side of Microsoft. With its new easy to manage development platform, developers can build content for PC and Xbox for far less money then before. This means we are going to see games from Square Enix like Final Fantasy that will be played on both Xbox 360 and PC at the same time. Worlds will be melted together so that PC gamers have a chance to play with console gamers seamlessly. This is where MS seems to shine. They not only have a platform that is easy to design for, but they give developers full use of their Xbox Live network as well. They don’t have to leave the online content up to the software companies. Instead, they mix games with all home entertainment. This insures all Xbox Live members can get the content they want when they want it.
Their online interface showed how a 360 user could be watching TV steaming from their PC while still having the ability to access their friends list and message with video or audio. Xbox has taken multi media just as seriously as they have their games. It looks as though the next 360 will give you one unit to control all your content. The living room will be a lot easier to manage once 360 is here by connecting your PC wirelessly to your Xbox. Want to download new content; the Xbox has you covered with their online market place. You can check out new games demos, trade maps, and download race tracks and beyond. We even saw how many other portables might be able to connect with the Xbox 360 (iPod anyone). In all the Xbox Live service is an attempt to connect friends with each other even when not playing games. For some one like me who has made many friends from 2old2play this is great way to stay in touch.
Now that we covered most aspects of the console, how does it look and feel? Well, after getting my hands on the controller, I am very pleased.
In the end, MS really gave a lot to the people at E3 to think about. The specs about three 3.2 Ghz processors, cell cores, and other consoles seems to be irrelevant to me at this point. The idea of video games is to have great content. Microsoft seems to have built themselves one of the better First party franchises. They also have secured some of the biggest names in the industry to produce Xbox only games and other 3rd party software. To many people look at specs and think that is what makes a great game. Nintendo has proven to all of us that it’s content that is king. They lead by software and compelling content and I think this is one area that MS is picking up on. Sony does have an impressive library of games and should be able to leverage their huge fan base next time around. Unfortunately they did not give people any tangible product to sink their fingers into. So until then we just have to wait for the games.
If you want to check out all the photos that I took of the Xbox 360 click on the link below.
Xbox 360 Photo Gallery
