Yesterday I wrote a bit about how I was disappointed with the lack of an announcement for three properties. I had completely forgotten about Pikmin 3, but was reminded about it as Shigeru Miyamoto expressed his sadness that the game was not available to be revealed at this E3. Another game that I mentioned was Zelda. Miyamoto came through there as well, saying that his team is working very hard on the new Zelda game, and he even brought a painting that represented the game, to show the press there. That’s one of the three. As for Kid Icarus and Donkey Kong? There’s no real mention of Donkey Kong outside of the next Mario vs. Donkey Kong for DS. Kid Icarus, however, has been mentioned in a few articles as people are expecting it will happen one of these days.
I want to also mention a bit more about the press conferences from this week, as far as winners and losers. Remember: I own a Wii and an Xbox 360, and do not own a PS3. But I’m trying to be fair to all of them. This is a stream of consciousness that I’m only writing what comes naturally, so bear with me:
Presentation:
Winner: Microsoft
They presented a new game technology called Project Natal, that allows for many different things. Controller free gaming, object scanning, face and voice recognition, etc. But the lack of buttons makes this an impossible device to use on games that require, oh I don’t know…. a trigger?
They also announced more first person shooters than you can shake a stick at, including not just one, but TWO new Halo games. Granted, we don’t know all that much about the differences in gameplay, but I can almost guarantee it’s much different than Nintendo announcing two new Mario games.
The biggest downside is that Microsoft spent a lot of time talking up games that are non-exclusives. The Beatles: Rock Band, for example, will be available on all three consoles, as will the new Tony Hawk. Thanks for padding your presentation with extras, Microsoft.
Runner Up: Nintendo
Seeing is believing with the games, and with a focus on first party, as well as third party exclusives, Nintendo showed only what they had to and nothing more.
Loser: Sony
“You’ve never played games like this before.” Yes we have, and yes we will. First on Nintendo Wii. Wii Motion Plus ring any bells?
Games I ACTUALLY want to play:
Winner: Nintendo
The Marios, Metroid, Wii Sports Resort. These are titles that interest me, and are the reasons why I keep my Wii locked and loaded. I guess I’m not a big fan of first person shooters. They kind of look… I don’t know… like they’re the same game after a while… with slightly different enemies and weapons but the same outcome.
Runner-Up: Sony
There’s a twist, as I own an Xbox 360 and NOT a PS3. I want to play The Last Guardian. But here’s another twist: I won’t be buying a PS3 just for one game. Period.
Loser: Microsoft
I guess I wouldn’t really call it a total loss. They did announce Halo: ODST and Halo: Reach. What they didn’t do is announce any killer apps for their motion capture control device. Nor did they announce any games that I would love to play.
Technology
Winner: Microsoft & Nintendo (Tie)
Microsoft has finally created something worth talking about in gaming, that is unique to the Xbox 360. However, Nintendo has the most accurate control system coming out with Wii Motion Plus. Nintendo also has a greater installed user base and less of an upward climb to get their technology into homes.
Loser: Sony
So much for being first at anything, Sony has followed up their dreadful trend in copying what everyone else is doing by copying what everyone else is doing. Sony’s Motion Controller involves nothing new. Sure there’s a camera to track the location of the controller…. but why does it need that? I guess Nintendo holds the patent on Motion Controllers themselves, so to get around it, they had to use a camera to track it. This could also explain why Microsoft pulled their own motion controller last E3 and started working on the camera device for their system. Of course, that’s all theory on my part.
They also announced PSP Go for the same price as a Nintendo Wii. Now, if you don’t want to have fun, you can have a portable device that you can take places and play games with the very few that have a PSP. Might as well just buy a DS Lite for over $100 less, or the DSi for about $80 less. Pick up some games for your shiny new DS while you’re at it. If you love RPGs, you’ll thank me later.
Overall
For this, I tallied up the score by giving two points to the winner, one point to the runner-up and zero to the loser in each category.
Winner: Nintendo (5 points)
Nintendo may not have won in presentation, but they’ve got it where it counts. Games and technology, giving them the best overall for this year’s E3.
Runner-Up: Microsoft (4 points)
Presentation was top notch, but game offerings are slim to none, though the technology is intriguing.
Loser: Sony (1 point)
One one category did they impress me: they had a game that I would like to play, and I don’t even know why. It might be the main character with the huge dragon thing for a companion that is intriguing to me, as a fan of such films as The Iron Giant and The NeverEnding Story.
