E3 2010: Overall Impressions

Well, E3 ended last week and it took me awhile to get to this point as I've been pretty busy over the last week. After thinking about it for a while I decided that E3 2010, like last year, was decent, but nothing mind blowing. The big difference is that most of what was really good about this years showing only came from Nintendo while Microsoft and Sony were weaker than they usually were which I guess I should elaborate on.

Out of the big 3, I think everyone agrees that Microsoft had the worst showing without a doubt. They didn't have have much to present that wasn't already known or guessed at in some shape or form and half of that had to with the fact Microsoft unveiled half of their stuff in the weeks leading up to E3, Gears of War 3 being the biggest spoiler. Last year Microsoft had 90% of their game shown before the conference and this year that total is somewhere around 99%. Microsoft needs to learn that part of the fun in E3 is the surprise and wonder in what new game could possible be shown off. Even worse was Microsoft's Kinect. Their answer to the Wii turned out to be nothing more than a straight up rip-off as every game looked and played a like poor man's Wii game and considering that the 360 is more powerful than the Wii, this is just pathetic. The gadget's use for interacting with the console itself is less impressive than it was last year as it looks like it would be easier to just use the controller, which defeats the purpose of Kinect entirely...I don't know what the hell Microsoft is thinking...

It seems like Microsoft and Nintendo switched places. While Microsoft was trying to damn hard to grab some casual gamer attention, Nintendo actually showed off a surprising amount of new games. Even more shocking is that most of these games are from franchises that the company has ignored on the Wii. The fact that Kirby, Donkey Kong, and Kid Icarus are getting high profile games alongside Metroid and Zelda is nothing short of mind blowing. The only thing they could have done to make this any better would have been holding off on revealing Mario Galaxy 2 last year and showing it now. Nintendo seemed to finally realize that they can target hardcore and casual gamers with their classic series and it paid off wonderfully. Even though I can't comment on the system, the way they handled the 3DS unveiling was just the icing on the cake. It truly was Nintendo's E3...

Sony managed to convince to buy a PS3 last year with they're comparatively stronger showings and its a purchase I haven't regretted yet. I've play my PS3 more in the past 6 months than I played the 360 in the two years I've had the thing. Sadly, Sony fell in the same trap Microsoft did, only they aren't in as deep. Only Twisted Metal was a true surprise announcement and everything else was shown beforehand. It doesn't speak well that the game I'm most excited for is The Sly Collection...a group of games released roughly 5 years ago. Sony's games are at least more interesting than Microsoft and I say that I'll actual try to play most of them. Their attempt at a Wii counterpart, The Move is somewhat more respectable as it appears to work much better than the Wii does and the games seem kinda interesting, but like Kinect it seems to be 4 years too late. Unless casual gamers with a Wii happen to also have a PS3 or 360, I don't really see the market for either motion control device. They still haven't given me a reason to get a PSP, although I think the thing has enough games that I could justify getting a used PSP...still better than anything Microsoft has come up with.

So in summation, E3 2010 was okay. Microsoft was the worst, no question asked. Some of Sony's games mentioned should be pretty good. And Nintendo did the reverse of the other two and give everyone what they want.

Score below is as follows.

CONFERENCE PLACING:
1st: Nintendo
2nd: Sony
3rd: Microsoft

E3 2010: Sony Impressions

Last one...After the unexpected domination of Nintendo at their conference, Sony's turn at bat was surprisingly disappointing. Not as bad as Microsoft's waste of space, but still pretty underwhelming. This mainly had to do with Sony not reveling anything that everyone was already aware of. There's still some games worth discussing though.

Killzone 3: I'm not sure what sets the Killzone series apart from other shooters on the market other than it being the only shooter franchise of any value on the Playstation systems. Everyone seems to be really excited for this one and I don't see much reason why. It looks pretty and some of the action is intense, but I have to say that don't like the Playstation controller for standard shooters, I'd much rather play it on X-Box...see I don't completely hate my 360....

The Sly Collection: I'm kinda pissed that Sony didn't dwell on this outside of an announcement that it was coming and it would in 3-D and be compatible with the Plystation move. The Sly Cooper series will be getting the God of War treatment by having it PS2 entries scaled to HD and released in a PS3 collection. I loved the Sly series and I can't wait for fourth entry in the series, but being able to play the older titles on the PS3 with thorphy support will be a the things that dreams are made of. The best part is that more of this collections are rumored to be coming. Keeping my fingers crossed for a Ratchet and Clank collection...

Playstation Move: Mircosoft's motion control device had a name change in the last year. Sony's device was just lucky enough to get a name. Like Kinect, the Move doesn't look any different or better than what was shown off last year. It offers full 1:1 motion control which is on par with what Wii motion plus can do and while the devices line-up of games is a lot less rip-offy than Kinect's offerings, they still aren't interesting enough to warrant a look. Sure, I think the Move is stronger than what the Wii offers, I just don't think the Market is there for it. The thing will launch this launch this September and there are bunch of different add-on devices to go with it.

Sorcery: Good job Sony! You made a Harry Potter game for the Move that looks even less interesting than they do.

Heroes on the Move: The idea behind this is somewhat intriguing. The game's a crossover between Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank, and Jak & Daxter and uses the Move to pull off attacks. from what was shown in the trailers, it looks like all the characters the do are their most basic attacks: Sly swings his cane, Ratchet swings his wrench, etc. I love two of the franchises on display here (piss off Jax...), so if I ever do get a Move, I'll have something to check out.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta: I knew that although God of War III is the final game in the series timeline, the franchise was just gonna do a Metal Gear Solid and release a bunch of games that take place at different points in the series history. This one takes place between the first and second game as Kratos is getting use to position as the new God of War. I don't have a PSP yet and I would have preferred that GOW III turely would have been the last of the franchise, but I might play this one.

Little Big Planet 2: I didn't like the first game, it came free with my PS3 (along with the amazing Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time) and just didn't live up to the hype and success that the franchise has garnered. The sequel looks like it could be an improvement. There's more customization options (no shock there), and the series is make a jump to cover more game genres than just platformers, so this one could be worth a look.

Portal 2: Like everyone else, I love Portal and although I want more, I don't really care for the notion of a full blown sequel. The first game was an independent masterpiece, taking a small idea an pushing it to its limits and working with little resources the development team had to its max. The sequel is getting a bigger team and seems to be going for the whole bigger is better idea that games stupidly fall for.

Final Fantasy XIV Online: I finally completed Final Fantasy XIII a few weeks ago, but that doesn't mean I'm icthing for more and it certainly doesn't mean I want that more to be an online game. I didn't like FF XI because it was online and my stance has changed here...didn't i say that last year? Oh well...

Gran Turismo 5: Again, I don't really have much interesting in racing outside of Mario Kart and Burnout so Gran Tursimo is pretty much a moot point to me. Looks really pretty though. Its stated for release nest year but given the infamous delays of the last game, I'm only interested in seeing rather or not it actually comes out.

Infamous 2: Infamous is on my list of Playstation exclusives that I need to play now that I own a PS3. Even though I haven't played that, I can't really say I'm excited for this and its for its for the dumbest reason...I can't stand Cole's new character design...his hair looks so damn out of place. Anyway the game's developer Sucker Punch also develops the Sly Cooper series and it goes without saying that I'd rather they make a new Sly game than new Infamous.

Twisted Metal: I've never played a game in this series before, but it looks cool, like a twisted version of Mario Kart. Not much was shown apart from some muliti player modes, but I could get into this.

And so E3 2010 ends...