E3'07

Anyone else been tuning to this?

Nothing much I've seen so far aside from new games, couple new accessories, and etc.

Been waiting on the main conferences here, with Microsoft's starting in 102 minutes at the time of this post, I want to see what the companies got to showcase in hopes of being the better hit of the show to generate more interest/sales.
(and hopefully some discussion about XNA)

I thought a lot of big companies were pulling out of E3.

A fair amount did due to the lack of retailing, the costs of the floor space/limitations applied, and lots of other crap..., or so it said over at GameSpot anyhow.

Does anyone know anything about the Austin GDC? The California one is going to be in San Francisco for the next few years, and I would rather not bother with it if the Austin one is the same thing.

The new E3 is private, much like it used to be way back. They hope to create a more productive atmosphere.

Whelp, Microsoft's conference is over, here's my cliff-note take on it..

- Halo theme-song played by some group, my subwoofer cried due to the horrible sound-adjustments they had setup
- conference starts, Peter Moore talks about numbers, and only numbers that makes their system look good, lots of numbers!
- Third Party titles, followed by Third Party trailers, lots of trailers!
- Talks about downloads and the XBLive! marketplace, oh yeah, LOTS of downloads....
- More trailers.
- More trailers.
- More trailers.
- More trailers.
- More trailers.
- More trailers.
- More trailers.
- More trailers..........
- brags about how last-gen Xbox basically lived on Halo1/2 and the GTA trilogy, which was a PS2 port
- How important Third party support is.
- More trailers.
- Bragging about amount of third-party games coming out in the following year.
- Halo movie teaser.
- Halo3 trailer teaser.


Whelp, that was a waste of my time, was hoping they'd actually discuss........something.

Be back in 11 hours when Nintendo has their say.
(and it just occured to me I did this exact same thing on this site one year ago...)

Yah, nothing really interesting seemed to come out from Microsoft this year. Aside from forever about Xbox Live downloading content, everything they talked about was already known or old news. I am interested in checking out the Gears of Wars on the PC though - considering the new levels and content. Plus that new Resident Evil 5 clip looked awesome.

Hopefully Nintendo and Sony will have a more exciting conference.

Shame that Gears of War is Vista only, but I guess that is to be expected considering Microsoft needs something better than Halo2 to promote the OS with.

Wait, it was Vista only??? I thought XP was also supported?

If its a somewhere fast port from X360 over, it sadly needs DX9 extended (who knows if it even WILL be released) or DX10 ... won't be doable with DX9 on a usefull scale. (X360 is pure unified shader)

All (or rather both) Microsoft published games (which seems to be only Halo2 and ShadowRun, so no big loss there) since Vista came out are "Vista only". Unless ofcourse you grab one of the numerous, erm "3rd party fixes" of those dodgey sites that advertise for Mailorder Brides.

booo.....i'll just settle for crysis then.

The most interesting thing this year has again been Spore, even though they just gave us a video teaser and said that the latest version will have a demo in Europe. (That they are not doing E3).

Saw a screenshot of a water scene, though. I thought they pulled that out?! Hm...

I guess Nintendo might show something interesting. They haven't done much at all lately.


Nintendo's showing thus far:
-Statistics that they have told us a hundred times. I get it.

-God, I hope these huge and ugly controller addons don't become necessary. I like that the Wii controller is sleek and minimalist, where it "becomes" real tactile things simply by being a great input mechanism, without the help of giant hunks of plastic.
The whole point is not to slap on expensive hunks of plastic to make the controller tactile. If games are going to come packed with their own "special" controllers costing over $20, there is no reason for them to be on the Wii.

-Release dates, finally.

-Wow, another ugly controller addon. This time, a steering wheel! Hope they have that one ironed out; the controller can only get its precise orientation with the help of its good friend gravity, which (thankfully) only runs vertically. It needs one axis held parallel to gravity, so either vertically (uncomfortably) with its side facing the ground, or (more comfortably) horizontally like Excite Truck, with the bottom facing the ground. Can't see how a steering wheel helps with the horizontal orientation, and I sincerely hope they aren't going with the vertical one... then again, they could easily be using more clever math then I'm assuming.
Without some cleverness, a steering wheel could easily be an unfortunate pain.

-Wii Fit is a more unique thing, probably appealing to some people and I'm sure they will do well with it. I'm not all that interested in it, but it makes sense and everyone has expected it since the system was announced. Again, their demo video is a bit off. I don't think an already muscular guy is going to need fitness help from a video game console.

-I wish they would stop recycling old ideas for the people that are not "non-gamers". Mario kart was good, now move on, you lazy slugs! (Hey, remember those slides in Mario 64? A beefed up version of those, with the Wii controller, could be a pretty neat package).

-That balance board thingy sounds like it has some nice applications. Kind of bothersome that they've gone and added yet another controller, but at least it's wireless. That game may be more than just an interactive fitness video after all. (Maybe something more like Brain Age, but with more content?).
Pretty clever little device, though. (Very simple, considering what it provides).

Considering it has the Live! for Windows thing integrated, that usually rings a bell in my head that screams "Vista only", although it would be very nice if they made it XP compatible, but if so, it would likely be crippled in the multiplayer department.

Anyhow, got to miss the Nintendo conference here thanks to some college paperwork, and the worst thunderstorm I've seen this year, get to wait on GameSpot to get the stream up for that so I can watch it after, since Sony's is due in 40min.

I thought the MS E3 stuff was great. All of disney's catalogue available for download in hidef is awesome. Also, everything except Resident Evil 5 will be out by XMAS.

Compared to the Nintendo stuff which we are watching right now the MS stuff was great. The Nintendo stuff is absolutely boring to watch.

I am still glad we returned the WII.

Hopefully Sony's show will be cool.

So far MS has had the show IMO.

The only beef I have with the video downloads, is the fact the average 360 user only has a measly 20gb harddrive, there's no way you can store any "true" hi-def video downloads from there.
(and by true, I mean actual HD quality, not your average DVD compress/rez, which would mean a full feature film would take more than 8gb of downloading)

And the 120gb HD is still not large enough for that means of playback, they should just offer a 1 terabyte drive instead....

Sony's conference just about to start, and thank god, as that thunderstorm appears to have passed over.

The HD size is the only gripe I have and I agree completely. Super size me please :)
The only thing I thought was truly laughable about the MS show was the green special edition 360 for Halo 3. Can you say "Fanboy cash grab". I knew you could:)

Watching Sony's show. Here is hoping for more than a price reduction announcement. I truly want to get exited, but so far ... ho hum.

Allan

Are the booth babes back, this year?

No booth babes.


Price reduction been known for little over a week now, the premium model getting a $100 drop, while a newer model with an 80gb harddrive is taking the premium's old price-tag.

Anyhow, nothing too special from the conference aside from trailers of some games (MGS4 looked badass, if only it wasn't all ingame cutscenes though!), a slimmer PSP that only has a slightly boosted battery life and a video-out port over it's bigger brother, and going on about some exclusive titles, as well as showing a crapload of titles Microsoft already beat them to showing at their conference yesterday.

Just saw Killzone 2 Demo for PS 3 and I am not impress even thought it doesnt come out until 2008!

I am sure they improve the graphics better than that!

Can't you download marketplace HD content to external hard drives?

Well the Sony event was much better than Nintendo's.
I like where they are headed, but with Sony it is hard to separate hype from actual product delivered. I didn't see 100's of new games. I didn't see anything even coming close to hurting MS and Nintendo and their respective audiences.

The "formally announced the price cut. Too little, too late. And whats with dropping the Emotion chip set and going with sw emulation. That's too bad because I thought part of the rational for getting a PS3 was that you would effectively be getting a PS2 in the bargain. Oh well, economics trumps all.

Overall, I was most impressed by MS's announcements and where they are headed with the platform.

Allan

Bah!

What is it with futuristic weaponry and unsatisying, muffled sound effects?
Every futuristic shooter presented here - and there were a lot of those - has had ridiculously lame weapon noises.
Where's the fun in shooting a giant machine cannon if it feels like a stapler?

Besides that, I can't wait for people to figure out that in-game does not mean "what you play". Killzone 2 here looks very pretty, but it also looks to have more cutscenes than Gears of War, and I thought that impossible.

Saw the Killzone 2 trailer and it sure did look frickin good. Will definately consider the PS3 later on this year.

Since firmware v1.80 (which has been outdated for ages) the sw emulation is very good. I always stated that in the long term software emulation > hardware emulation and it seems Sony is living up to that. The PSX emulation on PSP is fantastic, maybe not as compatible as ePSX yet, but is getting there steadily and pretty amazing considering the hardware its running on. I have no doubts Sony can pull off the same with PS2 emulation on the PS3, which is a much more capable machine to begin with.

Well I finnally saw the Nintendo and Sony conferences (finally!). Nintendo's conference wasn't too bad but they didn't seem announced anything big. While it was quick and short, they did seem to focus a bit on how much they're kicking ass in the current console race earlier on. Lots of talk about the DS games, but nothing that really interests me. The new Wii fit and that platform thingy did looked interesting. Can't really see of any benefits to me though, nor am I sure if I'll even break a sweat with any of the Wii fit exercises but..who knows. That Zapper attachment can provide a more gun-like experience (is there anything they won't use the Wii-mote for anymor?) but i'm not jumping for joy for it. I dunno, it may actually work well with Umbrella Chronicles. Aside from that, there was also an annoucement of yet another steering wheel add on for the Wiimote, plus a cool trailer of the next Mario Kart. Also it was interesting to see their upcomming games attempt at multiplayer, like the 32 player Medal of Honor. Needless to say, I'm still looking forward to seeing Mario Galaxy, and Metroid Corruption. Overall, it wasn't too great but at least they talked about new stuff unlike Microsoft's dull conference.

The Sony conference was a bit odd but they seem to do what they needed to do. Instead of throwing out facts, figures, and useless chatter which no one really cares about, they went straight to the games and pounded trailers one after another. They also announced the new slimmer PSP, along with features as well as new PSP games. Again, not much of an interest to me. They did focus a lot on the exclusives they still had (lol), but scrolled right through all the multiplatform games (Assassins Creed, RE5, COD4, etc). Metal Gear Solid looked great and of course so did Heavenly Sword. They also showed a very trippy game called "echoChrome" or something like that. There was also a lot of emphasis on Playstation Home and while it looks cool, I'm still a bit skeptical of its praticallity. They finished off big with the new trailer of Killzone 2. Overall I would say Sony had the best conference followed by Nintendo, then Microsoft, but the problem is that several of Sony's big name games won't be available until next year - which could really hurt them.

Best looking game of the show on the weakest hardware. Amazing design.

http://www.deletionquality.net/SMG__broll_FINAL.wmv

Nov 12 release.

The gameplay looks very nice (not so much the gfx), lot's of small cool ideas! Although their characters are kind of boring through all the years. The camera seems to be setup very well. I wonder how much you play or the game plays for you with the controller.

Written Jul 12.

I am sure this killzone 2 graphics is going to be better than Latest trailer when come out in 2008 but I am not getting my hope up.

E3 2005 Killzone 2 trailer was Amazing but Will they be able to match that in 2008.....who know eh?

cheers

2005 vs 2007 Killzone 2 Comparison

I thought it looked pretty damm good already, but they still have lots of time to improve on it. Not sure how much better it'll be though.

The thing that was great about that 2005 trailer is that it had lots of movement. Of course, that was easily achieved by it not being in-game.

However, this here is the exact same scheme. It looks pretty, but again (you can't possibly see that as any more pretty than the numerous other nice looking first person shooters coming out), what it really has going for it is that it shows a lot of movement.
This "in game" trailer is the oldest trick in the books! It may very well be in game, but that shows about very little actual gameplay, all in short burts, with the rest being a cutscene. Of course the cutscene is going to have lots of movement, but what I want from an interactive game is a truckload of interactive movement that happens in real time!

The in-game footage we do see is rather nice, but there is no telling how nice it really is until we see undisrupted gameplay footage. (Unless this trailer is indeed how much cutscene we are going to see).

I don't want to start a huge "which console is best" because I like all of 'em. I'll even champion my Dreamcast if pushed :)

I'd like to talk business model. I think the disney download movies (ignore drive size for now) is a huge move and can't be overstated.

I am reminded of an anecdote from Ray Crock, the guy who started McDonalds: he was asked why his burgers were so popular, his reply "It's not about my hamburgers. Anyone at home could make a better burger than me. It's about the business I made to sell hamburgers."

It's not an exact quote the gist is there. I remember, back in the 90's Gates gave a speech on his vision of the PC in the home and he said he wanted every home to have a set top box for games, movies etc ... all running Windows. I think the Xbox is the first salvo in Microsoft's to own the living room and has been successful. As a business it is clearly far sighted and fraught with peril, but it seems that is their vision.

Nintendo's vision seems much narrower and who knows what Sony's vision is? Sony has had so many miss steps lately it's hard to watch. I worry for them.

I think the biggest coup in the war of consoles would be for one of them to land WOW.

The next 5 years is going to be VERY good for consumers. I mean in both MS's and Sony's case we are able to buy powerful HW at far less than what it actually cost to manufacture. Stupid for them, awesome for us.

As for Nintendo, I think they had the most boring show. They will still make gobs of money that the can take their Pokemon bank.

Allan

GEARS OF WAR PC

Thought it was cool that Gears of War is coming to the PC, so no need for a 360 there. PC version has more detailed textures and smoother framerate too :).

BIOSHOCK PC

Another game that should be pretty cool
CRYSIS PC I really loved Far Cry, much better than its peers of that time.

TURNING POINT:Fall of liberty PC.

I like fantasy nazi bashing FPS games, this one could be damned good.

I'm not really that excited about any console games this year, surprising really, I was wanting a next gen system when they first came out, but none of them blew me away, and it seems like the PC has caught up already in the performance stakes so long as you have a modern mid range vid card.

I think it is cool to have these great games on the PC however a capable PC is going to be upwards of US$2000.00 A 360 or PS3 is sub $500.00. Are these games going to be 4-5 times better on the PC? After playing Oblivion on the PC and 360, I liked playing on the 360 better. That said I absolutely love all of the community stuff for Oblivion on the PC. I think a cross platform user made downloadable content would be fantastic and is one area that some of Sony's gang seem to grasp.

Like I said , no matter who or what your faves are, we all stand to win.

Or Second Life, but with Mii's.

I don't think so though. IMHO WoW / SL only really appeal to people who are already pretty heavily into games in some form, and probably already have all the hardware they want. The thing that will win is the mass-market, which is why you are right about Disney (and any other downloadable media that may be to come), and where Wii is winning (for now).

However, apart from LittleBigPlanet (which I worry may yet turn out to be a novelty) and Assassin's Creed (which I'll get on PC thanks), all the games I want are on Wii.

Oh, and Crysis (PC again).

There is actual gameplay footage. The e3 footage we all saw was a special cut and past footage of "in game", but the one that was actually seen by the spectators was actual gameplay. Notice how none of the sounds match up to the visuals in the trailer? There is a link for the actual gameplay.....i'll see if i can dig it up.

I'm looking forward to Little Big Planet (PS3), Crush (PSP), Monkey Island 5, Sam&Max II (TTG), Alan Wake/Bioshock, DragonAge/Drakensang...and as each year until i die the DIG II...okay but dreaming is allowed, isn't it?! :O)

Also interesting to see what DoubleFine will announce in the near future and if Ron Gilbert will find a publisher for his project.

Oblivion on the PC has francesco's mod which is absolutely brilliant.

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=oblivionmods.detail&id=268

Then theres a huge ammount of graphical updates, high res textures for the entire game, better character models and faces etc. A few mods improve the game a vast ammount over the original. The wife and I are still playing the same character and are over 100 hours into the game, still only about 50% through the main quest lol.

I'm surprised that Kojima said that this would be his last hurrah in MGS4, or for anything else for that matter... Did he say that he was retiring from the gaming industry, much like his friend Kutaragi-san has?

Hey Evak,

My wife and I are doing EXACTLY the same thing. The natural environments and Martigens Monsters are must haves as well. I am still absolutely stunned how awesome Oblivion on the PC is. Just wish I had a better PC ...

Allan

Sure. The kiddie console gets the kiddie movies. Too bad kiddies counldn't care less about whether they watch Snow White for the 100th time in HD, or on a grainy old VHS.

I don't know which speech you're talking about, but the only speech I remember Bill giving on his vision of computers is wanting to have a computer he can have a meaningful conversation with.

Technically possible on N64, makes you wonder why with they money they had they didn't do it before.

Have you seen this (PS3 and PSP)? http://media.psp.ign.com/media/949/949614/vids_1.html

Reminds me of Goedel, Escher, Bach...