E3 is over… hype now official!
Well E3 has finally redeemed itself. After the last few years of disappointment at what’s supposed to be the biggest game convention in the world, we finally get a very satisfying E3.
Although I hate to admit it, it looked like Microsoft had the best showing this time around, all though that’s not to say that Sony and Nintendo had poor showings. Microsoft basically covered all possible grounds for improvement and left even a Sony fanboy like me impressed.
So, the games, first I’ll start with the 360 games. The game that impressed me the most is Splinter Cell: Conviction. Now I’ve never been a big fan of the Splinter Cell games, but this latest one just looks amazing.
The game looks great and it has a very unique presentation style.
Even though the game still has stealth, Sam Fisher is now a predator, and uses his stealth to effectively take out his enemies, rather than avoid them.
After that are 2 halo games, Halo 3: ODST, and an all new Halo: Reach. Not much was shown about Halo: Reach, but well… its Halo so it should be good I guess.
Next up is Project Natal, Microsoft’s answer to the Wii.
The thing is almost as big as the Wii!
Project Natal is a camera that detects you as the controller. Meaning your actions can be mapped almost 1:1 and be translated and processed on screen. This is something the casual market is gonna die for, I’m sure, and looking at how far it’s come along, I’m sure Nintendo is quaking in their boots.
Microsoft also announced a slew of integration possibilities that will be realized by next year, including Facebook, Twitter and increased support for Netflix. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but the Facebook-Xbox Live Friends combination, makes it incredibly easy to find new people to play against online. Its an incredible idea and Sony should try its best to integrate it as well.
So on to Sony. Now the only reason why I feel Sony’s show was lacking was the lack of a price drop announcement. Almost everyone was anticipating this and yet Sony stood firm as wanting to be the expensive console. I suppose financial matters are going very badly for Sony, but if they want to catch up with Microsoft, they really cut the price.
But Sony’s games on the other hand were nothing short of amazing.
I want those
God of War 3 made a showing for all to play, and it looks spectacular as always.
FFXIV is an MMO???
The announcement of Final Fantasy XIV surprised everyone as FFXIII has yet to release, and FFXIII versus has yet to even release a proper trailer. Its confirmed that it is an all new MMORPG (separate world from FFXI) and will be released on the PS3 and PC. As of now there is no plan for an Xbox 360 release. My one hope for this game is that Square does not charge their monthly rate to play. I think it will seriously hold them back. But still, this game is still deep in development and I don’t expect a release till 2011.
Kojima dropped a bomb with 2 Metal Gear games: Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Metal Gear Solid: Rising is expected to star Raiden and will release on PS3, Xbox 360 (noooo!) and the PC. Judging by the tagline “Lightning Bolt Action” it doesn’t seem like its going to be a stealth game. This makes sense as Kojima has announced that he will be concentrating on MGS: Peace Walker for the PSP. This has been confirmed as a direct sequel to MGS3: Snake Eater. On the other hand, people are speculating that MGS:Rising will take place in between MGS2 and MGS4.
Finally, Sony announced the PSP Go, which unfortunately everyone knew about already.
Probably looks better in real life
Although the design is a tad disappointing, its form factor makes sense. It’s a lot more portable this time around. The biggest change is the removal of the UMD slot and adding 16 GB internal Flash Memory. A decision that is likely to make retailers around the globe livid, Sony is moving all its PSP games as downloadables from the Playstation Store. They are currently working out a strategy to enable existing PSP users to transfer the UMD games to their PSP Go.
And I almost forgot, Final Fantasy Dissidia, was in playable form at E3. Can’t wait for this one, a Super Smash Brothers of Final Fantasy is every RPG player’s dream.
3d Fighter with FF characters. Epic Win.
Well, those were the big announcements for me at E3. It doesn’t look like this generation of consoles is anywhere near close to dying. In fact, Microsoft has boasted that with Project Natal, they can continue the 360 till 2015. A tall order, but definitely not impossible. Although Nintendo had a decent showing with 2 new Mario games, Metroid: Other M, the only thing that interested me is this one concept art Shigeru Miyamoto released of the new Zelda:
Link has no sword…. Hmmm…
Lets see how it goes….
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