E3 2009: Press Conferences

For gamers everywhere, E3 is the convention where publishers and developers come to hype the future of gaming. In the past its infamy had dwindled, but as the ESA promised, E3 is back! Now there is a ton of content to cover from the convention, so I will leave most of that up to the professionals. Since the basic business model for any developer involves a console on which to develop these games; Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony hold some of the most significant press conferences of the show. I am going to run through their conferences double time, and give consensus on my best game and technology picks from the show.

Microsoft



Coming out the gates running, Microsoft brought the Harmonix team and a few Beatles to introduce the new Rockband. The pacing of the show was an interesting point, as Microsoft was the only one of the three to avoid business metrics, sales forecast or those pesky charts which typically slow down the intensity of new releases. The focus on the lineup included titles like Splinter cell: Conviction, Halo 3: ODST and Forza 3 headlining the exclusives for the year. While other 3rd party hits include; Alan Wake, Assassins Creed 2, Tony Hawk Ride, and Metal Gear Solid Rising.




New tech included some updates to the OS which bring facebook and Twitter functionality and of course, Microsoft answer to "waggle", Project Natal. This camera will capture the gamer in a full motion interactive experience that looks to change the way we game. The most prominent example lies in Peter Monyluex's experiment Milo. Check it out, there are some good explanations of Natal's potential at the following sites:

http://kotaku.com/5274539/see-microsofts-project-natal-in-action
http://kotaku.com/5274554/molyneuxs-milo-brings-a-virtual-child-to-the-xbox-360

Nintendo

Moving on through to Nintendo, who also had a slew of exclusives which include New Super Mario Brothers Wii, Wii fit plus, and Wii Sports Resort. All seem to play on the same fundamental Nintendo experience we know and love. They reintroduced the Motion Plus hardware again and also brought out the vitality sensor. What is this mysterious device? Click the link below for an explanation.



http://kotaku.com/5276350/wii-vitality-sensor-gets-smoothly-fingered

Besides any practical life saving applications, it hopes to further integrate one's health into the gaming experience. In my opinion, it has been developed to shed light on the stressed induced lifestyle of the Japanese salaryman, and Nintendo sees that as a potential market, so this may find its niche. Mario Galaxy 2 was also announced in the closing minutes, as was a Metroid reboot called Other M. With the Metroid Trilogy also recently announced, it would seem for Nintendo, this is the year of Metroid and Mario.

Sony

Lastly, was Sony and if not for the leaks, they seemed to bring the most surprises. The exclusive lineup including; God of War 3, Gran Turismo 5, Drakes Fortune 2, M.A.G, and the newly announced Rockstar North game Agent. Along side those exclusives comes a new iteration in the Play. Create. Share. platform called Modnation Racers; which can be best described as Little Big Planet does kart racing. The track builder looked highly intuitive and I was impressed with its potential.

The PSP GO! seemed to be the biggest not* surprise of the conference. By making the device solely dependent on digital download to provide all forms of media is a bold move for Sony. It is a step towards the future though, and as more and more publishers are learning to embrace this and consumers will eventually come to love the portability of a handheld console with no cartridges. The only real negative point I see is the $250 price tag, which after Apples recent announcement of the iPhone selling for $99 (3G 8gb), the PSP may have a little trouble selling outside the core gamer. Sony also brought their new motion technology and demoed it live. Its mix of peripheral and camera functionality the brings similar game play style of a Wii with more precision. The controller although, while not aesthetically pleasing, does work and has potential to be competitive in the motion control gaming sector. You can see it in action here.

*It was leaked a month before the conference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcOPwAvPvc

And the winners are...

Best Game: Splinter Cell Conviction

To be honest, before this conference I had written this game off. Since the release of Assassins Creed, Splinter Cell seemed less appeal ling to me. I had play the first two iterations and enjoyed them, but found Double Agent to be kind of broken and never played past the first couple hours. So when they revamped their style and approach to this game I had no expectations. Which in retrospect was good, because the demo blew me away. It is still sporty the same gritty protagonist and fundamental stealth combat, but its presentation is why I am so giddy over this game. First, the mission objectives are taking a prime time TV (a la Fringe) approach to informing the player and explaining the ongoing story elements through a projector like image on the actual environments around you. With that comes a new combat system where the player can assign kill commands to multiple enemies and then execute them seamlessly through a single button press. There seem to be other mechanics which affect stealth, such as playing off the enemy seeing your last position and then moving in the shadows as they stare at the column they think your behind while you take them out. All of this is extremely clean and calculated visually. Hopefully Ubi Soft delivers.

Runner up: Scribblenauts

Has to be the most creative thing at E3. Forget all the motion sensors and vitality monitors. Give me a game with a library of hundreds of thousands of objects or nouns and tell me it isn't a good time. The objective of Scribblenuats is to use your diverse vocabulary to solve puzzles by creating in game objects. To create something you only have to spell it and the results are as gratifying as they are hilarious. Have you ever wondered who would win if you pit God against the Devil against Kthulu? Well check out some videos online and see what some of the attendees came up with as they tried to stump Scribblenauts.

Best Tech: Sony Motion Control

Here is where I will potentially get flamed. Sure Microsoft's Project Natal is great and it has the potential to change the way we play games, but I am not sure I want that. So how is Sony different? They are trying to do everything the Wii promised it would. First, accuracy, which by watching the tech demo of this guy tickle a skeleton rib cage before he sliced of its head shows how precise this device really is. But if Microsoft can do that, why is this better. BUTTONS, we need buttons to interact with the virtual world. How can I play a game like Fable 2 with no buttons? Or Left for Dead? Or Madden 2010? Sure, these might not be the games you would use motion control for, but if you had buttons, I am pretty sure you could. So, for now, the type of gamer I am and the gaming I want to do, I want my buttons. Even if there is a little physical activity involved.

To finish on a lighter note:

**all images are the result of google image search.