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Well yes, it's that time again, E3! Where the geeks and nerds come out and gaze at flashing screens of their dreams. This year E3 looks to be a sure amazing one with many games planning release soon showing up and new ones maybe we don't know about. Wait... you don't know what an E3 is? Simply put, E3 is a gaming convention in LA where the "Big 3", Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, put out their best software to win customers over for the holiday seasons. This includes some of the big 3rd-party developers (ect. Ubisoft and EA) and some of the smaller (ect. Tecmo and Rising Star Games).
Now that you know what E3 is, I suggest you watch these conferences, live or not, now so they will give you a good idea of what I'm talking about:
Microsoft
EA
Ubisoft
Nintendo
Sony
Now being that this is my thread, I'll give my own thoughts on the Big 3's conferences. Maybe I'll add the other two later.
Microsoft*Microsoft's conference was average but it could have seemed better to the impatient had they planned it out correctly. They showed the games we liked, but this was downplayed by the fact they were games we already knew about (more or less). Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fable 3, Halo: Reach, and Gear of War 3, all known before the briefing, were shown in the beginning of the conference. We saw game footage of each on the floor and all relatively stunned me. Some people might have the problem that these games all seem the same as their predecessors, adding only detail to a prolonged story line and almost no new game-play. This argument has to be fought over between yourself whether you like sequels or not. personally I only like sequels if they have a good story line. Halo has a good story line. Oh, also, we got release dates for all these games. What, you go look them up :pottytrain1: ! The only big surprise was seeing MGS: Rising for a first time. The game looked amazing with its game-play based around a blade held by the main character. This blade seems to be able to cut everything at your will, even a watermelon. After this though, the conference started to take a turn for the casual gamer.
Kinect, originally known as Project Natal, was shown for a second time at E3. Kinect is a device that captures your 3D body onto the screen where it can be used to manipulate your surroundings. The most notable aspect of their Kinect's showing was its eerie similarity to Nintendo's Wii. All the games shown by Microsoft were already made in some form first with Nintendo. This includes Sports, Racing, Animal Petting, Sword Fighting, Fitness, and even the freaking menu. The only difference is the fact Kinect is in HD and Wii is not. As usual though, the conference had to end on a high note. Microsoft confirmed the rumors that there is a new, black, and sleeker 360. The new 360 has 250 Gigs and built-in wireless. It comes at the price of 299$, thus lowering each older model 50$ for its original price. The big surprise was that the new 360 would be available in stores this week (now it seems as though it will be Friday)! Also, as a bonus, everyone that attended the briefing got the new Xbox for free. I didn't know it was Opera who ran Microsoft.
All in all, we didn't get what we truly wanted. The hope coming in was that we'd see new games, never seen before, and be blown away. Well, we didn't get that. We got games already known and confirmation of a new device which will let us talk to "Skittles the Tiger." Now if you're the guy who likes these casual games, great. But the problem will be you having to buy all these things that make the casual experience. First you must buy a 360 which is at the lowest 200$, then a Kinect system which may be from 50$-100$, then you must buy 60$ games and so on. But then you look at the Wii. With the Wii, you play 200$ for the best and only model, get a controller with WiiMotion Plus, a nun-chuck adapter, Wii Sports 1 and 2, all secured by the fact you know you don't need to play for online or a fancy HDTV to get the most out of your system. This is a bad idea Microsoft, stick to your hard-core gamers and you'll do just fine.
Nintendo*Coming Soon!
Sony*Coming Soon!
Let's hear your opinion! What do you think? Am I totally off? Or am I right on target?
*Articles are subject to change