Overall this year's E3 was pretty great. I was very impressed with the overall quality of new games and devices being presented this year. It seemed that this was a year less reliant on sequels and more on new games and new concepts. As predicted the big focus was on motion controls and 3D presentations being pushed towards the consumer during the show. Nintendo had their 3DS, Sony had their move and list of games supporting 3D, and Microsoft had their Kinetc. even the games which were sequels were arguably strong sequels with big names such as Killzone 3, Halo Reach, and Fable 3.
If anything Nintendo proved to be the strongest of the big three who presented at E3. Their game selection was the most impressive mining a ton of older games which the SNES/N64 generation could identify with. On the technology front their 3DS showcased a handheld system which did not require a additional items to utilize the 3D and a very strong selection of games planned for the handheld.
Sony came in a close second with their strong showing for the Playstation Move and number announcements involving the PS3. A premium service of PSN, a variety of games which will support the Playstation Move which go beyond mere collection of mini games and some strong sequels such as Infamous 2 and a new Twisted Metal. The big surprise was the announcement of Steam services for PS3 and that PS3 will have the strongest console platform for Valve's newest title Portal 2. Big and shocking news for a man who has said some pretty hateful things about the platform in the past.
The biggest disappointment to me was Microsoft. From their lack of surprise titles to their weak selection of exclusive titles available this year, to their aggressive push of their new Kinect product which at this point appears to be nothing more than a collection of mini game like games with motion controls which either a. don't work or b. are sloppy and would benefit from any kind of button or controller input. Time will tell but seriously, where was Milo from last year? That was the Kinect project which got me interested in the first place. Outside of a newly designed X-Box 360 sku there was little excitement for me for Microsoft this year.
On a final note the Konami conference will go down as one of my favorite conferences ever for all of the wrong reasons. The spokesman was incoherent and his sales pitch consisted of babbling on for about 20 minutes about features in a game which have been around since the beginning of this gaming generation and telling the audience that he loved them. There are countless jokes running around the internet about drug use being involved, I'm willing to believe them.
Great job this year guys. I enjoyed watching the madness as it developed through websites and twitter updates. Maybe one day I'll be there in person.
I can only hope anyway.
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