But, as video games are by their nature a very competitive pass time, it's only natural for people who have a particular system feel a sort of ownership and loyalty to that/those systems. So, E3 is a celebration of our beloved hobby, but inevitably people want to weigh the biggest presenters against one another.
I felt Sony gave the best presentation overall. They had a ton to prove given their recent security debacle, but I thought they gave a pretty good presentation. There were not a lot of big 'new' game reveals by any of the companies, though there were exceptions like Halo 4, Luigi's Mansion 2 and so on. The Move got a lot of air time, and that was to be expected, but it did not feel like it was taking over the presentation. The Vita however, was a huge hit for me. They showed some great demos of games in action, like the Mod Nation Racers track building feature. They had a good list of games and features and really touted the connected game space effectively. That they came in with such a polished-looking product and a price tag (and at $249, a very effective price tag) only helped.
Nintendo was a close 2nd for me. I felt Nintendo and Sony both had fairly balanced presentations. They both showed off new hardware - the Wii U looks potentially awesome (though I liked that things like price points were addressed by Sony where Nintendo's simply said they doubt it will be at the $250 entry point). They both backed up current but fresh hardware - the Move for Sony and the 3DS for Nintendo. I actually thought the 3DS had a better showing here. There were not many surprises, but there were a couple and it all looked good and polished. Nintendo however, struck out with me on two points. 1) They had a great lead in with Zelda's 25th anniversary, but it felt rather weak when it was said and done. 2) Almost no mention of their current platform - you had Skyward sword in their presentation, and that was it. In other sessions some games got mentioned, but it felt a bit like the Wii was getting neglected
Microsoft whimpered a bit. The initial titles they showed off were not exclusives. Because they had no new hardware to show off, Microsoft played up Kinect a lot. Not necessarily a bad move - the Kinect has sold well but people have been saying that they want more titles. Problem is, most of what they showed underwhelmed and a lot of early adopters have been vocal in their concern on various forums and blogs. There were a few exclusive titles that looked good like Gears 3, and the Halo 4 trailer tucked into the end brought a smile to my face, but it was my least favorite of the 3 presentations.
Anyway, those are my basic comparative thoughts on it - I'd be curious to hear if you agree or disagree. On that note, I got a nice new Cyborg V.5 keyboard for my CPU my dad got me for my birthday as I finish up a few more games and have a bunch of reviews coming soon - including some scheduled for next week while I'm camping up. Take care!
Yeah, good summary - we think alike.
ReplyDeleteNext year's E3 is already set up to be very interesting. Microsoft's going to have to bring something very new to the table, Nintendo's going to have to follow through with the Wii U promises, and Sony's going to have to prove that people want a portable PS3.
Consumers, of course, win.
And that is the key. Even if Microsoft's presentation was 'the worst' - there were still cool things. And cool things are what we're all interested in. :)
ReplyDeleteI still haven't watched Microsoft's conference yet, which is why I've been slow commenting!
ReplyDeleteSony and Nintendo were interesting, but didn't really blow me out of the water.
Sony's big positive was a strong showing for the PS Vita, while Nintendo's Wii U reveal reminded me of Microsoft's initial Kinect showing...