E3 2009: My thoughts
I want to start this entry off by saying I have biases in regard to the "console wars" and these biases do in fact affect my opinions. I will try to stay neutral but I'm sure my biases will come through. Rather than try to hide behind the veil of neutrality like many publications do I will freely admit that I am human and therefore naturally have biases. I just want to make that abundantly clear before I begin. Thanks :)
Between June 2nd-4th the Los Angles Convention Center played host to the largest video game trade show in the United States, Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly referred to simply as E3. Unfortunately the event is for "industry professionals" only, which means no general public. However thanks to the wonder that is the internet the big press conferences like Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, EA, and Ubisoft were simultaneously broadcast live to all the common folk like myself, who were not privileged enough to attend. As expected from E3 there were some surprising announcements and some not so amazing revelations. For better or worse E3 has come and gone once more.
--Microsoft Press Conference:
The first major press conference of this year's E3 was by Microsoft, the makers of the widely popular Xbox 360. For me Microsoft's press conference had moments of awe but also moments of complete indifference. They started the conference by showing "Rock Band: The Beatles," which is not a 360 exclusive, which was interesting. After showing some gameplay videos, which *drum roll please* looked almost exactly like Rock Band 1 and 2, they brought out Yoko Onno, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. Yoko didn't say anything; she just waved then headed off the stage. Then McCartney and Starr came out. Neither seemed to terribly excited to be there Starr in particular. "The game is good. The graphics are very good. And uh we were great," said Starr before he and McCartney left the stage. Microsoft's "big" exclusive with this game was that they would have one song exclusive to the 360. "All you need is love" will be a 360 DLC, downloadable content, exclusive and all the proceeds from the sale of the song will go to charitable causes.
After about 40 minutes of presenting multiplatform games, which was really lame, Microsoft got to some exclusives for the 360. The two exclusives that I really liked were "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction" and "Alan Wake."
"Conviction" is the fifth game in the "Splinter Cell" franchise. It is being developed by Ubisoft for the 360 and PC. The game once again has the player taking the role of Sam Fisher as he tries to uncover the conspiracy behind his daughter's death, which was previously thought to be accidental. The gameplay still seems to focus on stealth but the gunplay elements seem to have been refined. The developers have implemented a "Mark and Execute" system, which allows the player to mark a target and have Fisher automatically shoot at it. This seems like it would be a really cool feature for a stealth action game, especially if assassinations are involved. The game is slated to be released in fall of this year.
"Alan Wake" is a game being developed by Remedy Entertainment, who are the developers behind Max Payne. The game has the player taking the role of a best selling author, Alan Wake (who would have guessed that would be the main characters name?), who has writers block. His wife takes him to a small town in order to help with his writing. But she mysteriously vanished and Alan must find her. Oh yeah did I mention that he wrote a book he can't remember writing and everything he wrote is coming true. But based on the gameplay shown at the press conference the game has the dark and gritty feel of a silent hill game. Alan must point his flashlight at nefarious objects and monsters before he can damage them with his weapon. The gameplay isn't anything crazy revolutionary but it looks like a survival horror game. However the story is what really has me sold on this game. Let's just hope Remedy Entertainment doesn't mess it up. I mean they aren't very creative with the titles for their games :p The game is scheduled to be released in spring of next year.
They also announced "Left 4 Dead 2," which seems like just a slightly more polished version of the original. It has new characters, new settings, new monsters and new weapons. Three of which were promised as updates for the original. Needless to say this has caused quite a fuss. As of this writing there is a group of about 10,000 "Left 4 Dead" players who are boycotting the new release, which is slated for a November 17th, 2009 release.
Microsoft also focused quite a bit on bringing lots of flashy features to the 360 outside of gaming. They added a last.fm feature as well as netflix. They also showed off facebook and twitter capabilities. They touted these as something to behold. But honestly these are all things that a person could do on a computer. And the 360 like all video game systems is just another computer so all these features aren't so impressive. I for one am not so into this whole social networking thing so I really didn't care.
But Microsoft's biggest announcement was something known as "Project Natal." They call it gaming using the best controller of all, your body. Basically "Project Natal" is a camera that attaches to your 360 and can track your movements as well as recognize your voice and they claim it also has face recognition. I'm not gonna lie it sounds really amazing. And basically the player will make a movement and the camera will pick it up and the persons avatar on the screen will do the same thing. However I don't think "Natal" is quite as finished as Microsoft wants the public to believe. The two onstage demos shown were able to pick up movements fine but there were no instances of fine motor skills. For example with the painting demo the demonstrator only made wide sweeping motions to throw paint at the virtual canvas there was not a single attempt to make a straight line or anything that requires precise motor skills. So my concern here is that either "Natal" isn't quite as done as they claim it is or it's not as amazing as they want us to believe. There are no controllers with "Natal" so I have a feeling it will be awkward to play a shooter or any serious video game with it. But if Microsoft can deliver on even 50% of what they're promising with "Natal" Nintendo's Wii will have a run for it's money.
I felt like Microsoft's press conference was very representative of the company. During the Microsoft press conference John Schappert, the corporate vice president for xbox, said "Today it's all about showing, not telling. So you're not gonna see charts and graphs about sales figures or attach rates." What he fails to mention is that you are going to see tons of celebrities like the aforementioned members of the Beatles, as well as Tony Hawk and Felicia Day just to name a few, telling you all about how great the 360 is. This press conference was typical of Microsoft, you could tell they threw a lot of money at a lot of different people in order to get the things they believed would pump people up and it sorta worked. I mean they got an onstage demo of Final Fantasy 13 gameplay whereas Sony just got a pre-made tape for their press conference. Microsoft even got the Metal Gear franchise onto their console. With the very cryptic upcoming "Metal Gear Solid: Rising," which we only saw a teaser with no actual gameplay for. But Microsoft did manage to put on a pretty impressive conference.
--Nintendo Press Conference
I've long since lost my faith in Nintendo. The DS is still a viable console in my eyes but the Nintendo Wii is a console I have a really hard time getting behind. Like I've said many times the Wii is a novelty act and once that novelty wears off the console is finished. That being said the Nintendo press conference wasn't something I had any expectations for whatsoever. Needless to say I was not disappointed :)
Nintendo really didn't impress me even with my lack of expectations. They kept saying they were trying to get this demographic of gamers that had the potential to be gamers but might not know it yet or some random mumbojumbo like that. It was all very profit oriented. The problem is all the people watching or following E3 are already games and don't really care so much about this "untapped demographic." I really wanted to see something that would wow me like Microsoft's "Project Natal." I didn't get that.
Nintendo once again rolled out the wiimote attachment that finally makes the movement with the controller a 1:1 ratio. They showed this same thing at E3 last year. Honestly when Wii was first announced I was kinda expecting a 1:1 ratio from the get go. There were also a bunch of wii player friendly games like Mario Bros Wii, which is basically almost the original Mario Bros with the capability to play with 4 people. They also had wii resort, which was also showcased last year along with the 1:1 ratio adapter.
The only game that piqued my interest was the announcement of "Metroid M." A joint project between Nintendo and Team Ninja or Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive fame to create a new metroid game that isn't in the first person view. From the short trailer we were shown the gameplay looks like it goes back to the way the old Metroid on SNES played. The game actually looks like something I want to play. It's not gonna make me buy a Wii but it's a start. Nintendo also announced Mario Galaxies 2, which gets a huge MEH from me. It looks exactly like the first one.
Nintendo's "big" announcement was a vital signs monitor that you attach to your finger like they have at the doctor's office. I am not kidding you. They're killer thing is piece of plastic you clip to your finger that monitors heart rate. This is the exact reason why I can no longer stand behind Nintendo. In their attempt to attract the health nuts and the "untapped" demographic they've forgotten about the people who supported them for years. The actual gamer demographic. The people who like to play games for the sake of playing games, not to get healthy or interact face to face with other people. Where are the good old fashioned gamers games? You can't have just one or two.
I beg you Nintendo stop trying to be so innovative and just make some good games. you've lost sight of why people play video games.
--Sony Press Conference:
So Sony was the last of the three big console makers to present their new line up of products. To be honest this was the press conference I was looking forward to the most because I am a bit of a Sony fanboy. But then again that is warranted for the most part (PSP excluded(, Sony has not made a console that has let me down game-wise. So I was looking forward to what they would have in store.
Unlike Microsoft, Sony did not have a bunch of celebrities hocking their products. Sony showed off some gameplay from the upcoming PS3 exclusive "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves," which is a sequel to 2007s "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune," early on in the conference. The game follows the protagonist from the previous game Nathan Drake. Drake is a sort of a cross between Lara Croft and Indian Jones, same type of premise but with a lot more action. The short segment that was shown had Drake out running an armed helicopter. The gameplay seems to be an improvement of the previous game. However the game looks a bit too much like Microsoft's "Gears of War" franchise. With the cover system and the way the blood flies when Drake shoots enemies. The game looks very good. I just hope that it doesn't turn into a "Gears of War" ripoff gameplay-wise.
Next Sony showed off another PS3 exclusive called MAG, short for Massive Action Game (I know real creative title). MAG is being developed by Zipper Interactive the developer behind Sony's hit "Socom" franchise. MAG is basically an MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) shooter, sound familiar? Planetside anyone? Anyway the games major selling point is that each server can support 256 players at once. That really is a huge number of players. To emphasize the amount the people from Zipper Interactive put up portraits of 256 people. They then proceeded to demo the game. The game play looks really generic like any shooter. Literally there is nothing revolutionary about it besides the amount of players that can participate in a battle. It doesn't bring anything new to the table. And frankly the little bit of gameplay that was shown was boring. It was not nearly as intense as you would expect a 256 player battle to be. I was excited for this title after E3 last year when it was first introduced but the more I see of it the less impressed I am. I guess if Zipper can create a non lagging 256 player server that in itself is an amazing feat but that alone isn't enough to sell me on this rather generic shooter.
Sony also announced the PSP Go. Which is basically a smaller version of the current PSP with better battery life, etc. However the Go has no UMD (Universal Media Disc) slot but rather it has 16 gigs of built in memory so all the games would have to be purchased via the internet. The unit is a little bigger than an iphone when it is closed. It slides open to reveal the control pad. I will give it to Sony the PSP Go does look sexy. But the lack of a UMD slot makes all previously purchased games moot. Sony has said they are working to address this issue. Rumor has it that there will be kiosks where people can trade in their UMDs for digital versions of the same game. In my opinion that is terrible. They take a physical product you payed for and give you some code to load onto your new PSP. They got to think of a better way. For me personally the PSP Go is not something I plan to buy any time soon. The PSP has not really had many must buy titles in the past months. I personally have not bought a new PSP game for months. There just isn't anything on the console that catches my attention. Not to mention Sony's price point for the unit. The Go will sell for $240 like the PSP when it was first released. The price is far too high in my opinion for a console that already has a current incarnation. The increased price basically buys you a smaller more efficient version but I don't feel like it's worth shelling out an extra $80 for.
The game that I am probably most excited for is "Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker" for the PSP. The game appears to be cannon for the Metal Gear story line and takes place after "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater." The game follows Big Boss as we find out what led to the creation of outer heaven. If you haven't played any of the Metal Gear Solid games you probably have no clue what I'm talking about. In which case you should stop reading right now, if you're still reading, and go play some Metal Gear Solid games! The graphics aren't anything amazing but the fact that there will finally be a "real" meaningful Metal Gear game on the PSP (I know portable ops is supposedly cannon but it didn't feel like it) has me excited. The gameplay looks like the console counterparts not like the Ac!d games or portable ops, the two previous incarnations of Metal Gear on the PSP. Plus Hideo Kojima said that he is personally writing the story and that many members from the "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" are working on this game. I cannot wait to play this game. I literally went and dug out my PSP and charged it just to make sure the battery still worked after hearing about this. The game is slated for a 2010 release (Did I say "Metal Gear" enough times in this paragraph?)
Sony also went ahead an introduced their own motion controller. Yes Sony is also attempting to get into the motion controller game. For real this time. It's not like the thrown together motion controller, "sixaxis" technology, in the PS3 controller. This is an honest to goodness motion controller. The project is not named. The controller will utilize "wands" held in each hand as well as a camera, which attaches to the PS3 console. There was a demo to show that the wands could relay precise movement by having the demo person write his name on using the wands. Then there was also a demonstration to show that the wands could be used to shoot arrows like a bow. It was really impressive. But seemed to be in a rather early stage of development. I honestly think in that Sony has the strongest potential motion controller of the big 3. I like the idea of having something in your hand and I like the demonstration of precision. No release date has been announced for this unnamed motion controller.
Sony also showcased a trailer for "The Last Guardian," which is thought to be the final game in the "Ico" trilogy. However whether the game has any actual relation to the two previous games developed by Team Ico is still yet to be seen. The short trailer featured a young boy who befriends a griffin like creature. The game has the same unique art style of its predecessors, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus (as seen in the movie "Reign Over Me" starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle). It is a PS3 exclusive and is slated for release in 2010.
Sony's press conference also had the biggest letdown of E3 2009. After showing the Final Fantasy XIII Trailer they announced Final Fantasy XIV, which would be a PS3 exclusive. At that moment I was as happy as a kid on Christmas. I love the "Final Fantasy" franchise and to get another one so quickly was bliss. They proceeded to show a trailer and it slowly became apparent that "FF XIV" would a be a sequel to "FF XI," the MMO Final Fantasy, which in my opinion was not a very good game. So that burst my bubble as I'm sure it did a lot of another "Final Fantasy" fans. So thanks Sony for getting my hopes up then smashing them to tiny unrecognizable pieces all in a matter of minutes.
Sony wrapped up their press conference with gameplay of their highly anticipated game "God of War 3." The game is set to be the final game of a trilogy based in Greek mythology. The game follows a former Spartan warrior turned god as he attempts to seek revenge on Zeus. The game is loved by many for it's extreme violence and satisfying gameplay. The game is basically a hack and slash but it has a lot of style and uniqueness although it doesn't seem to have changed much from its original release at least gameplay-wise. But the violence is still there. In the demo that was shown Kratos cut out the intestines of a centaur looking monster and then ripped the horn off another monster and using it to gouge out the eyes of said monster. The graphics looks great the gameplay is exactly the same as previous games. But it will be nice to finally see this epic story come to a close. Sony ended their conference strong by showing arguably their most anticipated exclusive title.
To my dismay the game "Heavy Rain" by French developer Quantic Dream was left out of Sony's conference. The game is a crime thriller in which players are trying to catch the "origami killer." According to the developer "the real message [of the game] is about how far you're willing to go to save someone you love." The gameplay is heavily focused on quick time events. If you haven't heard of it I recommend scouring the internet for some video of the game.
--Konami Press Conference:
I only write about the Konami conference because there was some interesting stuff to come out of it. First of all Hideo Kojima announced the production of a "Metal Gear Solid Arcade" game. From the gist of the presentation the game seems like it will be a third person shooter along the lines of "Metal Gear Online." The cabinet will first be released in Japan but Kojima is aiming for a worldwide release in the near future. The other big announcement by Kojima was his involvement in the new Castlevania game "Castlevania: Lord of Shadows." The game is a co production between Spanish developer MercurySteam and Kojima productions. The game is supposedly a reboot of the franchise. The gameplay looks a bit like a cross between the "God of War" and "Devil May Cry." The official trailer shown by Kojima of the game was narrated by actor Patrick Stewart. And finally Konami finally announced a "Dance Dance Revolution" game for the PS3. The game will feature 8 direction arrows rather than 4. I don't know how I feel about that but I am extremely excited to be finally getting a "DDR" game on the PS3.
Well that about sums up what I thought of E3. A "big" game I didn't even bother talking about was "Assassin's Creed 2." This is because it is a game that I couldn't give two shits about. I hated the first one. It was overhyped and not nearly as good as I was led to believe. The new game looks like much more of the same. So I'm not even looking forward to it. I didn't forget about it. I just don't feel like talking about. If you have any interest in it I'm sure there are tons of articles and videos about this game on the internets.
Anyway for those who have stuck through this entire diatribe I thank you. Once again E3 has come and gone. I await all the cool new titles being released in the coming months and look forward to next year's E3 and all the excitement and disappointment that will bring.
Between June 2nd-4th the Los Angles Convention Center played host to the largest video game trade show in the United States, Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly referred to simply as E3. Unfortunately the event is for "industry professionals" only, which means no general public. However thanks to the wonder that is the internet the big press conferences like Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, EA, and Ubisoft were simultaneously broadcast live to all the common folk like myself, who were not privileged enough to attend. As expected from E3 there were some surprising announcements and some not so amazing revelations. For better or worse E3 has come and gone once more.
--Microsoft Press Conference:
The first major press conference of this year's E3 was by Microsoft, the makers of the widely popular Xbox 360. For me Microsoft's press conference had moments of awe but also moments of complete indifference. They started the conference by showing "Rock Band: The Beatles," which is not a 360 exclusive, which was interesting. After showing some gameplay videos, which *drum roll please* looked almost exactly like Rock Band 1 and 2, they brought out Yoko Onno, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. Yoko didn't say anything; she just waved then headed off the stage. Then McCartney and Starr came out. Neither seemed to terribly excited to be there Starr in particular. "The game is good. The graphics are very good. And uh we were great," said Starr before he and McCartney left the stage. Microsoft's "big" exclusive with this game was that they would have one song exclusive to the 360. "All you need is love" will be a 360 DLC, downloadable content, exclusive and all the proceeds from the sale of the song will go to charitable causes.
After about 40 minutes of presenting multiplatform games, which was really lame, Microsoft got to some exclusives for the 360. The two exclusives that I really liked were "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction" and "Alan Wake."
"Conviction" is the fifth game in the "Splinter Cell" franchise. It is being developed by Ubisoft for the 360 and PC. The game once again has the player taking the role of Sam Fisher as he tries to uncover the conspiracy behind his daughter's death, which was previously thought to be accidental. The gameplay still seems to focus on stealth but the gunplay elements seem to have been refined. The developers have implemented a "Mark and Execute" system, which allows the player to mark a target and have Fisher automatically shoot at it. This seems like it would be a really cool feature for a stealth action game, especially if assassinations are involved. The game is slated to be released in fall of this year.
"Alan Wake" is a game being developed by Remedy Entertainment, who are the developers behind Max Payne. The game has the player taking the role of a best selling author, Alan Wake (who would have guessed that would be the main characters name?), who has writers block. His wife takes him to a small town in order to help with his writing. But she mysteriously vanished and Alan must find her. Oh yeah did I mention that he wrote a book he can't remember writing and everything he wrote is coming true. But based on the gameplay shown at the press conference the game has the dark and gritty feel of a silent hill game. Alan must point his flashlight at nefarious objects and monsters before he can damage them with his weapon. The gameplay isn't anything crazy revolutionary but it looks like a survival horror game. However the story is what really has me sold on this game. Let's just hope Remedy Entertainment doesn't mess it up. I mean they aren't very creative with the titles for their games :p The game is scheduled to be released in spring of next year.
They also announced "Left 4 Dead 2," which seems like just a slightly more polished version of the original. It has new characters, new settings, new monsters and new weapons. Three of which were promised as updates for the original. Needless to say this has caused quite a fuss. As of this writing there is a group of about 10,000 "Left 4 Dead" players who are boycotting the new release, which is slated for a November 17th, 2009 release.
Microsoft also focused quite a bit on bringing lots of flashy features to the 360 outside of gaming. They added a last.fm feature as well as netflix. They also showed off facebook and twitter capabilities. They touted these as something to behold. But honestly these are all things that a person could do on a computer. And the 360 like all video game systems is just another computer so all these features aren't so impressive. I for one am not so into this whole social networking thing so I really didn't care.
But Microsoft's biggest announcement was something known as "Project Natal." They call it gaming using the best controller of all, your body. Basically "Project Natal" is a camera that attaches to your 360 and can track your movements as well as recognize your voice and they claim it also has face recognition. I'm not gonna lie it sounds really amazing. And basically the player will make a movement and the camera will pick it up and the persons avatar on the screen will do the same thing. However I don't think "Natal" is quite as finished as Microsoft wants the public to believe. The two onstage demos shown were able to pick up movements fine but there were no instances of fine motor skills. For example with the painting demo the demonstrator only made wide sweeping motions to throw paint at the virtual canvas there was not a single attempt to make a straight line or anything that requires precise motor skills. So my concern here is that either "Natal" isn't quite as done as they claim it is or it's not as amazing as they want us to believe. There are no controllers with "Natal" so I have a feeling it will be awkward to play a shooter or any serious video game with it. But if Microsoft can deliver on even 50% of what they're promising with "Natal" Nintendo's Wii will have a run for it's money.
I felt like Microsoft's press conference was very representative of the company. During the Microsoft press conference John Schappert, the corporate vice president for xbox, said "Today it's all about showing, not telling. So you're not gonna see charts and graphs about sales figures or attach rates." What he fails to mention is that you are going to see tons of celebrities like the aforementioned members of the Beatles, as well as Tony Hawk and Felicia Day just to name a few, telling you all about how great the 360 is. This press conference was typical of Microsoft, you could tell they threw a lot of money at a lot of different people in order to get the things they believed would pump people up and it sorta worked. I mean they got an onstage demo of Final Fantasy 13 gameplay whereas Sony just got a pre-made tape for their press conference. Microsoft even got the Metal Gear franchise onto their console. With the very cryptic upcoming "Metal Gear Solid: Rising," which we only saw a teaser with no actual gameplay for. But Microsoft did manage to put on a pretty impressive conference.
--Nintendo Press Conference
I've long since lost my faith in Nintendo. The DS is still a viable console in my eyes but the Nintendo Wii is a console I have a really hard time getting behind. Like I've said many times the Wii is a novelty act and once that novelty wears off the console is finished. That being said the Nintendo press conference wasn't something I had any expectations for whatsoever. Needless to say I was not disappointed :)
Nintendo really didn't impress me even with my lack of expectations. They kept saying they were trying to get this demographic of gamers that had the potential to be gamers but might not know it yet or some random mumbojumbo like that. It was all very profit oriented. The problem is all the people watching or following E3 are already games and don't really care so much about this "untapped demographic." I really wanted to see something that would wow me like Microsoft's "Project Natal." I didn't get that.
Nintendo once again rolled out the wiimote attachment that finally makes the movement with the controller a 1:1 ratio. They showed this same thing at E3 last year. Honestly when Wii was first announced I was kinda expecting a 1:1 ratio from the get go. There were also a bunch of wii player friendly games like Mario Bros Wii, which is basically almost the original Mario Bros with the capability to play with 4 people. They also had wii resort, which was also showcased last year along with the 1:1 ratio adapter.
The only game that piqued my interest was the announcement of "Metroid M." A joint project between Nintendo and Team Ninja or Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive fame to create a new metroid game that isn't in the first person view. From the short trailer we were shown the gameplay looks like it goes back to the way the old Metroid on SNES played. The game actually looks like something I want to play. It's not gonna make me buy a Wii but it's a start. Nintendo also announced Mario Galaxies 2, which gets a huge MEH from me. It looks exactly like the first one.
Nintendo's "big" announcement was a vital signs monitor that you attach to your finger like they have at the doctor's office. I am not kidding you. They're killer thing is piece of plastic you clip to your finger that monitors heart rate. This is the exact reason why I can no longer stand behind Nintendo. In their attempt to attract the health nuts and the "untapped" demographic they've forgotten about the people who supported them for years. The actual gamer demographic. The people who like to play games for the sake of playing games, not to get healthy or interact face to face with other people. Where are the good old fashioned gamers games? You can't have just one or two.
I beg you Nintendo stop trying to be so innovative and just make some good games. you've lost sight of why people play video games.
--Sony Press Conference:
So Sony was the last of the three big console makers to present their new line up of products. To be honest this was the press conference I was looking forward to the most because I am a bit of a Sony fanboy. But then again that is warranted for the most part (PSP excluded(, Sony has not made a console that has let me down game-wise. So I was looking forward to what they would have in store.
Unlike Microsoft, Sony did not have a bunch of celebrities hocking their products. Sony showed off some gameplay from the upcoming PS3 exclusive "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves," which is a sequel to 2007s "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune," early on in the conference. The game follows the protagonist from the previous game Nathan Drake. Drake is a sort of a cross between Lara Croft and Indian Jones, same type of premise but with a lot more action. The short segment that was shown had Drake out running an armed helicopter. The gameplay seems to be an improvement of the previous game. However the game looks a bit too much like Microsoft's "Gears of War" franchise. With the cover system and the way the blood flies when Drake shoots enemies. The game looks very good. I just hope that it doesn't turn into a "Gears of War" ripoff gameplay-wise.
Next Sony showed off another PS3 exclusive called MAG, short for Massive Action Game (I know real creative title). MAG is being developed by Zipper Interactive the developer behind Sony's hit "Socom" franchise. MAG is basically an MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) shooter, sound familiar? Planetside anyone? Anyway the games major selling point is that each server can support 256 players at once. That really is a huge number of players. To emphasize the amount the people from Zipper Interactive put up portraits of 256 people. They then proceeded to demo the game. The game play looks really generic like any shooter. Literally there is nothing revolutionary about it besides the amount of players that can participate in a battle. It doesn't bring anything new to the table. And frankly the little bit of gameplay that was shown was boring. It was not nearly as intense as you would expect a 256 player battle to be. I was excited for this title after E3 last year when it was first introduced but the more I see of it the less impressed I am. I guess if Zipper can create a non lagging 256 player server that in itself is an amazing feat but that alone isn't enough to sell me on this rather generic shooter.
Sony also announced the PSP Go. Which is basically a smaller version of the current PSP with better battery life, etc. However the Go has no UMD (Universal Media Disc) slot but rather it has 16 gigs of built in memory so all the games would have to be purchased via the internet. The unit is a little bigger than an iphone when it is closed. It slides open to reveal the control pad. I will give it to Sony the PSP Go does look sexy. But the lack of a UMD slot makes all previously purchased games moot. Sony has said they are working to address this issue. Rumor has it that there will be kiosks where people can trade in their UMDs for digital versions of the same game. In my opinion that is terrible. They take a physical product you payed for and give you some code to load onto your new PSP. They got to think of a better way. For me personally the PSP Go is not something I plan to buy any time soon. The PSP has not really had many must buy titles in the past months. I personally have not bought a new PSP game for months. There just isn't anything on the console that catches my attention. Not to mention Sony's price point for the unit. The Go will sell for $240 like the PSP when it was first released. The price is far too high in my opinion for a console that already has a current incarnation. The increased price basically buys you a smaller more efficient version but I don't feel like it's worth shelling out an extra $80 for.
The game that I am probably most excited for is "Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker" for the PSP. The game appears to be cannon for the Metal Gear story line and takes place after "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater." The game follows Big Boss as we find out what led to the creation of outer heaven. If you haven't played any of the Metal Gear Solid games you probably have no clue what I'm talking about. In which case you should stop reading right now, if you're still reading, and go play some Metal Gear Solid games! The graphics aren't anything amazing but the fact that there will finally be a "real" meaningful Metal Gear game on the PSP (I know portable ops is supposedly cannon but it didn't feel like it) has me excited. The gameplay looks like the console counterparts not like the Ac!d games or portable ops, the two previous incarnations of Metal Gear on the PSP. Plus Hideo Kojima said that he is personally writing the story and that many members from the "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" are working on this game. I cannot wait to play this game. I literally went and dug out my PSP and charged it just to make sure the battery still worked after hearing about this. The game is slated for a 2010 release (Did I say "Metal Gear" enough times in this paragraph?)
Sony also went ahead an introduced their own motion controller. Yes Sony is also attempting to get into the motion controller game. For real this time. It's not like the thrown together motion controller, "sixaxis" technology, in the PS3 controller. This is an honest to goodness motion controller. The project is not named. The controller will utilize "wands" held in each hand as well as a camera, which attaches to the PS3 console. There was a demo to show that the wands could relay precise movement by having the demo person write his name on using the wands. Then there was also a demonstration to show that the wands could be used to shoot arrows like a bow. It was really impressive. But seemed to be in a rather early stage of development. I honestly think in that Sony has the strongest potential motion controller of the big 3. I like the idea of having something in your hand and I like the demonstration of precision. No release date has been announced for this unnamed motion controller.
Sony also showcased a trailer for "The Last Guardian," which is thought to be the final game in the "Ico" trilogy. However whether the game has any actual relation to the two previous games developed by Team Ico is still yet to be seen. The short trailer featured a young boy who befriends a griffin like creature. The game has the same unique art style of its predecessors, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus (as seen in the movie "Reign Over Me" starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle). It is a PS3 exclusive and is slated for release in 2010.
Sony's press conference also had the biggest letdown of E3 2009. After showing the Final Fantasy XIII Trailer they announced Final Fantasy XIV, which would be a PS3 exclusive. At that moment I was as happy as a kid on Christmas. I love the "Final Fantasy" franchise and to get another one so quickly was bliss. They proceeded to show a trailer and it slowly became apparent that "FF XIV" would a be a sequel to "FF XI," the MMO Final Fantasy, which in my opinion was not a very good game. So that burst my bubble as I'm sure it did a lot of another "Final Fantasy" fans. So thanks Sony for getting my hopes up then smashing them to tiny unrecognizable pieces all in a matter of minutes.
Sony wrapped up their press conference with gameplay of their highly anticipated game "God of War 3." The game is set to be the final game of a trilogy based in Greek mythology. The game follows a former Spartan warrior turned god as he attempts to seek revenge on Zeus. The game is loved by many for it's extreme violence and satisfying gameplay. The game is basically a hack and slash but it has a lot of style and uniqueness although it doesn't seem to have changed much from its original release at least gameplay-wise. But the violence is still there. In the demo that was shown Kratos cut out the intestines of a centaur looking monster and then ripped the horn off another monster and using it to gouge out the eyes of said monster. The graphics looks great the gameplay is exactly the same as previous games. But it will be nice to finally see this epic story come to a close. Sony ended their conference strong by showing arguably their most anticipated exclusive title.
To my dismay the game "Heavy Rain" by French developer Quantic Dream was left out of Sony's conference. The game is a crime thriller in which players are trying to catch the "origami killer." According to the developer "the real message [of the game] is about how far you're willing to go to save someone you love." The gameplay is heavily focused on quick time events. If you haven't heard of it I recommend scouring the internet for some video of the game.
--Konami Press Conference:
I only write about the Konami conference because there was some interesting stuff to come out of it. First of all Hideo Kojima announced the production of a "Metal Gear Solid Arcade" game. From the gist of the presentation the game seems like it will be a third person shooter along the lines of "Metal Gear Online." The cabinet will first be released in Japan but Kojima is aiming for a worldwide release in the near future. The other big announcement by Kojima was his involvement in the new Castlevania game "Castlevania: Lord of Shadows." The game is a co production between Spanish developer MercurySteam and Kojima productions. The game is supposedly a reboot of the franchise. The gameplay looks a bit like a cross between the "God of War" and "Devil May Cry." The official trailer shown by Kojima of the game was narrated by actor Patrick Stewart. And finally Konami finally announced a "Dance Dance Revolution" game for the PS3. The game will feature 8 direction arrows rather than 4. I don't know how I feel about that but I am extremely excited to be finally getting a "DDR" game on the PS3.
Well that about sums up what I thought of E3. A "big" game I didn't even bother talking about was "Assassin's Creed 2." This is because it is a game that I couldn't give two shits about. I hated the first one. It was overhyped and not nearly as good as I was led to believe. The new game looks like much more of the same. So I'm not even looking forward to it. I didn't forget about it. I just don't feel like talking about. If you have any interest in it I'm sure there are tons of articles and videos about this game on the internets.
Anyway for those who have stuck through this entire diatribe I thank you. Once again E3 has come and gone. I await all the cool new titles being released in the coming months and look forward to next year's E3 and all the excitement and disappointment that will bring.
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