E3zzzzzzzzzz
July 11th, 2007Is it just me, or is E3 continuing its sad decline into irrelevance? I’ve been scanning the coverage so far, and the most exciting thing I’ve seen has been Bomberman (and arguably the RE5 trailer, but there’s not much meet on the bones yet).
Where are the shocking announcements?
Posted in Etc, Geoff |
July 11th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Well, Nintendo is literally in the middle of their big presentation. And Microsoft announced several important things last night (Disney movies [and more I think] on marketplace, Sonic, Marathon, Mass Effect release, Blue Dragon demo, Halo 3 console [even though it sucks], etc.)
July 11th, 2007 at 11:23 am
What is weird is that both Nintendo and MS had great stuff to show…they just chose not to show it.
July 11th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I’m not sure why everyone hated the Nintendo presser. We got release dates on the other 2 “big” games (Mario and Smash Bros.), both for this year, we got a first glimpse of Mario Kart (which admittedly is probably coming out a year from their Q1 2008 estimate), which are the core games everyone cares about.
Then we had new info about Wii Fit, which comes with a “balance board” and looks like it will probably be a huge hit with the casual crowd, as well as perhaps some of us more hardcore folks that may like having a videogame that helps us work out. They even showed a Medal of Honor game that supported 32 players online. Overall, I didn’t find it that disappointing, particularly in comparison to Microsoft’s which didn’t really show anything new… unless you consider Viva Pinata: Party Animals something new.
July 11th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Yeah Jeff,
I agree, I thought N presser was exactly what it should have been. Lots of new product info, product release dates, online info, as well as the launch of a new IP in Wii-fit, plus the requisite gameplay videos.
It wasn’t exactly THRILLING but at least it offered a substantial amount of new info, and some new reveals. Thats what I look forward to in an event like this. The MS presser only really offered SCENE IT as new info/reveal. Hopefully the sony event is more like the nintendo, and less like the MS. They need some good press out of this.
July 11th, 2007 at 11:53 am
People hated it becaus eit was boring. They actually announced some decent things, but they spent far too much time on the trivial stuff.
Why should I care about a mii fashion show?
Or how well they are doing?
Show me the games.
The wiifit board actually has some potential, I can definitely see it being used in a 1080 or waverace game. But they just presented it so slwoly and boringly.
It was like a sony press conference.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I agree with Jeff and Dave as well.
It was OK, but not what we expect from E3.
I hope i’m in the majority, though, when i say that E3 should be de-emphasized and others [TGS, GDC, etc ad naseum] more emphasized. Having one giant orgy-fest is costly, bulky, and extremely inefficient. I hope we never go back to that again. Things should be spread out more.
SPeaking of spreading out, I really wish these publishers would spread the games out over the year. Cramming them near the holidays does neither the gamers nor the games much good, with too many vying for attention, while there is a virtual drought over the long summer.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Also: many seem to be saying the SOny showing was much better than MS and N. Thoughts?
July 11th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
The presentation was pretty flat on all of them. Sony had some nice videos and info, but so much of if is not coming this year, it was a bit of a let down. Drakes Fortune looked pretty good though. I can’t wait for Mario Kart online and battle mode. That’s should be fantastic.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
I’m really looking forward to Mario Kart… I just hope the multiplayer is a bit more involved than what they included with the DS version. The DS version of MK is perhaps the best version of the game ever, and the multiplayer is a lot of fun, but it could definitely have been a lot better.
And am I the only one concerned about waving around a plastic wheel to control Mario Kart? I’m not totally convinced that motion controls will work well in a Mario Kart game. I haven’t played too much of it, but I think Excitetruck was designed around having a bit looser control over your vehicle. Mario Kart, with its slide and dash turns, sort of requires much more precise control. I hope the Wii-mote is up to it.
July 11th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Sony’s was less boring, but still talking about stuff that we don’t need or won’t get until next year.
MS had a much better lineup, but it was all stuff we already knew.
July 11th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
My complaint is that the presentations were either 1) about a handful of mildly interesting games and sequels that we knew were coming all along (Nintendo - I mean, did anyone seriously doubt that a Mario Kart was coming due?), or 2) about a bunch of games we already knew about (Microsoft).
I’ll grant that Sony’s presentation was fairly interesting. The fact that many games are far off is sort of the point, since we’ll already have heard a lot about games that would be due shortly… which would be a MS snoozefest all over again.
Regarding the de-emphasizing E3 and re-emphasizing the other expos… why? If you’re going to do that, you’re spending a lot of money preparing for multiple events and getting very little bang for your buck. There may be some value in console-specific events.
July 11th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
“The fact that many games are far off is sort of the point, ”
I disagree here. So much is in flux right now, too many reveals/details on distant projects could be wasted money (games like Fatal Inertia, Warhawk, and even Spore have proven this). It just seems silly to spend invaluable E3 time talking up a project that might jump ship in 6 months or get cancelled completely. Hell, even cooing about MGS4 being exclusive may prove false by the time it hits. If you know about everything already (in the case of MS because they can’t keep their pants on for any project right now, ok, then maybe give us some deets on the future projects, but in the case of Nintendo, I was really pleased to get release dates on major titles, and to know that MK will have a real online component, even though its scary as hell that it wasn’t a given. As for the wheel on MK, it will almost certainly be like excite truck and NOT be mandatory. I played excite truck without the wheel and LOVED it. MK is absolutely doable with the wii-mote.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:32 am
1. MK better support GC/CC…or else!!
2. My problem with the old E3:
I’ll readily admit, thanks to E3 the industry has literally exploded. However, there comes a time when you must realize a convention is TOO big, the cost-benefit analysis if you will. If we had kept the old E3, in a given year 70% of all important game announcements and 70% of journalists trying out new games would crowd into an impossible 3 or 4 day span.
ALso, the conducting of business was really suffering. And yes, business is more important than satisfying some anonymous gamer who popped in the convention. In fact, people argued that both gamers and the businessmen were getting GRINDED by the massiveness of E3. Last year’s Wii ’snake line’ was a real pain in the fucking ass for both gamers and businessmen, need I remind you of that?
Also, developers got a bad habit [understandably] of halting their game development months in advance to make some elaborate flashy trailer + demo. This is NOT good. Publishers blew tons of money setting up countless mock-ups and playable stands and the collective garbage we call “booth babes” [no im not gay]. They are a fucking pathetic embarrassment to the industry. If I want to jack off, I’ll look at real porn, no thanks.
Not to mention, its irritating to get a flood of AAA titles all in the fall, and a truly annoying summer drought.
By spreading things out, by spreading out the emphasis of various conventions, we get smaller chunks that are, when totalled up, far more than what we get from one massive bloatfest.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:47 am
oh and need I also remind that old E3 started to drift away from games, because too many people were paying attention to the spectacle, not hte games?
July 12th, 2007 at 10:22 am
GC/CC? I’m really bad with acronyms, what’s that mean?
I can see where you’re upset with the summer drought, personally it’ll give me time to finish Echoes before Corruption comes out. but I guess it is kind of disappointing to have no new AAA releases for a long time.
As for wheather or not MK will work on the wiimote, it probably will, but if it can’t I think Nintendo, being so focussed on control with Wii, will add the nunchuck, so we can use the control stick or make the D-pad functional for the game probably with the option for motion control. I think customized controls like Brawl will have will be getting more common on Wii because of the multiple diffeernt controller arrangements.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
gamecube or classic controller
January 7th, 2010 at 6:47 am
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