E3 '09 conferences

[Viper86]

Well, it's that time of year again. Today MS will be kicking off E3 with their conference at 1:25 ET. Supposedly it was moved up 5 minutes because of some last minute surprise.

I'll be watching it live and posting my thoughts. If anyone else will be watching, feel free to post your thoughts as well. You can watch it live at IGN.com, Gamespot.com, Xbox.com, and Gametrailers.com.

Sony and Nintendo will have their conference tomorrow.

[Viper86]

The conference started off bad, got good, and went back to bad IMO.

I'm excited for Crackdown 2 and Forza 3. Forza 3 looked great and appears that it will have some nice features. It was great to see Alan Wake for once. The gameplay looked interesting and I'm looking forward to it once again.

Splinter Cell looked interesting but I'm not sure if I'll get it when it comes out. I'm not sure about Left 4 Dead 2. I love the PC version for the first game but it just seems to early for another. I'd rather see HL2: Episode 3 or Portal 2.

MGS: Rising is coming to the 360. Good news for those without a PS3 I guess. I'll still pick the game up for the PS3 though(which I'm sure it's coming too.)

Another Halo is coming.... What a surprise.....

I have no interest in Facebook, Twitter, Netflix or any of that stuff.

Finally, I have no interest in this motion control crap. Ugh, I don't even know what to say about Natal.

[DeaconBlade]

i thought the motion control was really good. Crackdown 2...YES PLEASE! a lot of cool stuff that came out of it.

meh on Facebook Twitter and MGS..double meh actually. couldn't care less about any of these three things.

overall...very impressed.

[blazsox]

I'm just glad none of the big three are there at E3 to promote a new generation console...I'm not ready to spend that much again.

Though the PSP Go! will be officially revealed tomorrow, I like how its going all digital content now but I already sold off my first PSP for the second generation one - not sure if I will do again.

[Mikewarrior]

Looks like I was right about everything once again - Camera motion controller/MGS4/Full game downloads THIS GEN http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/06/msft-e3-2009-keynote0473-rm-eng.jpg = Take that Aero & everyone who doubted me. I'm Batting 1000%!

Oh yeah, the Microsoft presentation was crap, & mostly for casuals... I was right about that as well. :p

[Thumpthis]

Thought it was great myself, the motion sensor blew anything I have seen bar none

[ReaperHybrid]

I'm with Thump. I was most impressed by the new motion tech. If this thing is supported by first and third party games it could be amazing.

[AeroHudson]

I thought the MS conference was pretty impressive. Natal, Halo: Reach, Crackdown 2 and others were great. I think the expanded Live services were also impressive like the radio / music service, Facebook, Twitter, 360 games on demand and the like. They are definitely pushing the industry forward.

Like others, Natal looks like it could be off the hook. My wife was even impressed and found it facinating and she is not a gamer. Looking forward to Sony's conference today.

[DJSteel]

Natal will be cool if they do it right. Crackdown 2 will be good, although Realtime Worlds probably will not be working. What is Halo: Reach? The facebook, twitter, radio/music stuff is all unnecessary until they make the the interface easier to maneuver.

[DJSteel]

Looks like I was right about everything once again - Camera motion controller/MGS4/Full game downloads THIS GEN http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/06/msft-e3-2009-keynote0473-rm-eng.jpg = Take that Aero & everyone who doubted me. I'm Batting 1000%!

Oh yeah, the Microsoft presentation was crap, & mostly for casuals... I was right about that as well. :p

MGS game is NOT MGS4..

http://i.d.com.com/i/dl/media/dlimage/67/54/3/67543_large.jpeg

[Viper86]

Natal will be cool if they do it right. Crackdown 2 will be good, although Realtime Worlds probably will not be working. What is Halo: Reach? The facebook, twitter, radio/music stuff is all unnecessary until they make the the interface easier to maneuver.

Crackdown 2 is being developed by Ruffian Games, a studio that has several former Realtime Studios employees. Who knows what Halo: Reach is. All I could gather from the teaser is that it's some sort of prequel.

[blazsox]

I'm not against another Halo title, but didn't Bungie go independent to go beyond just doing Halo games?

[AeroHudson]

I'm not against another Halo title, but didn't Bungie go independent to go beyond just doing Halo games?

I think they went independent so they get get paid more like a 3rd party by MS as well as more creative control. Personally, I don't think it was ever really about doing their own thing.

I am alright with a new Halo game as well as long as they keep it fresh. I think the ODST concept seems to be fresh and from what little we have seen REACH could do the same taking us back in time prior to John 117. Knowing Bungie, the quality will be high and the story will be solid.

[blazsox]

Wonder what surprise we will get from Nintendo this year.

CMON WII BIKE RIDING!!!!

[DJSteel]

Crackdown 2 is being developed by Ruffian Games, a studio that has several former Realtime Studios employees. Who knows what Halo: Reach is. All I could gather from the teaser is that it's some sort of prequel.

I'm not sure Crackdown 2 will be as good without the full team assembled. I'm looking forward to see that.

[Viper86]

I'm not against another Halo title, but didn't Bungie go independent to go beyond just doing Halo games?

I thought they wanted to move away from Halo but it's another year and another Halo game is being produced by Bungie.

[TXPaladin]

Was impressed with it all, loved that they had Paul & Ringo out, wish they'd handled it different, would have been cool to bring them right out during the game play of the first song on stage. Just seemed a little awkward is all, plus it made me think a lot of the crowd was clueless as to who they really are.

Natal will be killer an I hope they bring it all. Epics new Arcade project looks really sweet. Joy Ride will be a blast and I might have been sucked into Alan Wake now.

[blazsox]

VITALITY SENSOR!!! HOLY SHIT!!!

This is awesome. I shit my pants with excitement!

Obviously, I shat my pants from pure boredom

[DJSteel]

new mario, new Metroid..I'm liking all of this..add in that I got Wii Sports Resort for 18.99

[TXPaladin]

Vitality Sensor sounds interesting. Most of the buzz I've seen sounds like Nintendo didn't wow them though. I'll have to watch the recording tonight along with the Sony stuff. My guess is MS will still come out as the clear winner for this year. We'll see what Sony can pull out.

[ReaperHybrid]

A little help guys. Where is the best place to watch these full press conferences on the web?

[DJSteel]

Vitality Sensor sounds interesting. Most of the buzz I've seen sounds like Nintendo didn't wow them though. I'll have to watch the recording tonight along with the Sony stuff. My guess is MS will still come out as the clear winner for this year. We'll see what Sony can pull out.


the MS press conf was decent.. but not blown away awesome. Nintendo seems on par since it has a Team Ninja Metroid game, Super Mario Galaxy 2, etc. The difference will hinge on whether or not Natal turns out to be good or not.

[Viper86]

A little help guys. Where is the best place to watch these full press conferences on the web?

IGN.com and gamespot.com

[Viper86]

Sony conference was a bit boring at times. We don't need to know all these numbers. They also jumped on the motion control bandwagon with something that appears to be a cross between Natal and the Wiimote.... Again, not interested.

Overall though, I liked what I saw from the games.

Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 looked incredible. MAG looks like it has some potential and I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Rockstar is giving the PS3 an exclusive called Agent. That could be big depending on the how the game turns out. FF14 Online is exclusive, which will be big with the FF fans.

Assassin's Creed 2 looked good and is something I'll definitely pick for the 360 most likely.

Team ICO's new game looks great, which is something I'll also keep an eye on.

NASCAR will be in Gran Turismo 5. I'm pretty pumped about that.

[SuMeRiaN]

Watched em all and thought they were all good in their own way...

Metroid w/ team ninja, galaxy 2, new mario all looked good. NO MULTIPLAYER online ever mentioned. I like Reggie and gonna hand the winner to Nintendo in terms of presentation at the show.

Peter Dill and Mattrick should be kicked off stage, they have no presence... GARBAGE I SWEAR. Candi from Nintendo was more enjoyable to watch.

Im gonna it say Peter More and KAZ are better on stage.

MAG, iToy, and GOW3 look nice.

AC2 is going to rock, FORZA, Crackdown...

EA's conference was good, peter did well :)

I usually suck it up and dust it off to play the 2-3 worth playing exclusives on each console. I still see Sony as fading, not just on the SEC side either.

[DJSteel]

i believe that Sony and MS are pretty much neck in neck, just depends on the exclusives you like.. I'm not a big Halo fan, so MS's presentation was good not great.. Nintendo's was good, I love the exclusive stuff. I'm holding off my impressions of Natal until I see what kind of implementation we are talking about here.

[blazsox]

Sony's conference was good, but damn was that long (over 2 hours).

I liked the motion controller it showed off, but it all depends how developers use this type of technology in their games. Obviously Sixaxis didnt take off, but this has a bit more potential.

God of War III looked awesome from the short bit we got from it. Sucks that its coming in March 2010 though, and not this holiday.

ModNation Racers got my interest pretty good, and it looks like its more user friendly to create great racing tracks than it is creating levels in LBP.

The new Team Ico game blew me away just from the presentation, definitely caught my interest.

The PSP Go...not sold on it, especially when its going to retail for $250. Couple of questions I need answered is - what do we do about the PSP games we already own on UMD and does it have connectivity to TVs via component video like the PSP 2000 introduced (the whole reason I sold my PSP 1000 for a 2000). I do not want to re-purchase my UMD games for their digital counterparts, and dont want to own two PSPs to play between UMD games and digital games.

The new MGS game and the re-announcement of GT on PSP look pretty good, and its nice to see a release date for a Gran Turismo game...though we still await when GT5 will come out.

GT5 added NASCAR, which doesnt get me too excited but I was hoping to see the addition of Tourist Trophy (which Polyphony released on PS2), to the GT world to add on to offering a variety of racing types...like the Pro Race Driver/GRID franchise from Codemasters.

All in all it was a good conference from Sony...but damn I really wanted the new Twisted Metal reveal. Nintendo was boring as expected, they really need to hire some PR people who can get the audience excited...that Cammie chic cannot keep my attention going for more than 2 seconds. They had some cool games to show off, obviously Mario Galaxy 2 being the the one I wanted to see. But this is typical Nintendo. There are a couple of third party games I am interested in the Wii (like The Conduit), but once again the third party developers arent bringing that many exciting games to the Wii (and only the Wii). They didn't show off many new third party games that make us go wow, they showed the ones we already knew about like Dead Space Extraction and Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles.

I havent watched the MS conference, probably won't get around too it as I already know all the announcements. But it is good to see E3 somewhat back to its norm, because last year was dull.

[Viper86]

I just saw video of GT for the PSP and I was impressed at how good it looked and how smooth it ran. I guess they weren't kidding when they said it would run at 60fps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn5rBftQ1b0

[TXPaladin]

Think its cool how Nintendo is going with all the Healthy stuff like Fit Plus and like the Vitality Sesor. Some DSi stuff looks cool, now that the family has one to play with. Most of the other games I can pass on.

Sony's motion controller looks like a blend of the Wiimote and the Your In the Movies from the 360. About the only thing I really liked was the moving around like it was a gun. MAG was neat to see, but talk about insane, to think about 256 people all playing at once in the same game. Still not enough to make me go buy a PS3 though.

In the end I'm looking forward to just about everything Microsoft presented. A few surprise games I hadn't really seen much about. 2009 might break me after all in the pocketbook and 2010 is looking pretty good already as well now. I can actually give MSG a try in the future.

[aquaboy1976]

I didn't really give a crap about the motion sensing stuff, but I decided to watch the Natal video. That looks kind of cool and could be fun for my family to do some kind of gaming.

[AeroHudson]

I read some behind closed doors previews for NATAL and it sound very impressive. They took Burnout Paradise and added the camera functionality to a full version of that game on an off the shelf 360. You could control the car just like the concept video displayed by acting like you had a steering wheel in your hands. You engaged the boost by simulating a gear shift motion with your right hand. It also could track movement in your right foot for the gas pedal. Pretty cool stuff that IMHO could change the face of gaming if done right.

[DJSteel]

the problem is not all the companies will jump on board with developing NATAL controls for all games...especially if it costs some time to develop this.

[Thumpthis]

Always remember DJ there getting it up & running for the next system also could be a big for gaming

[AeroHudson]

the problem is not all the companies will jump on board with developing NATAL controls for all games...especially if it costs some time to develop this.

Maybe not initially. I think the right strategy is to get your 1st party devs working on innovative content that then sells well to prove the worth of the new system. If they show it can make money than other 3rd party devs will be chomping at the bit to get onboard.

[DJSteel]

Maybe not initially. I think the right strategy is to get your 1st party devs working on innovative content that then sells well to prove the worth of the new system. If they show it can make money than other 3rd party devs will be chomping at the bit to get onboard.

you mean like the Wii where you create this environment in which where the 1st party stuff flourishes and the 3rd party stuff is hit and miss? I don't know I want that..

[AeroHudson]

you mean like the Wii where you create this environment in which where the 1st party stuff flourishes and the 3rd party stuff is hit and miss? I don't know I want that..

No, not at all. Obviously, you would want to get dev kits into the hands of devs that are interested right away. I was addressing your thought that some / alot of devs may not jump on the badwagon so easily. The way that gets addressed for more global adoption of the new product is to have a couple of successes jump right out of the gate. MS can tightly coordinate that with their 1st party but I would imagine that some 3rd parties will have some good stuff early as well.

I think Nintendo's challenges on 3rd party software have been related to a very different set of unique circumstances and differences in strategy...

- The big one is the fact that they went low tech as far as specs were concerned compared with their competitors. This generated alot of shovelware that didn't look that hot either riddled with minigames for the casual market
- They are going after the casual gamer first whereas MS and Sony started with core and then move to casual
- Sony and MS in both of their presentations stressed core gamer application of the new tech whereas Nintendo was transparent on casual first. This generated more interest in developing content for nongamers thereby dumbing down the software in a lot of cases

I'm not saying that Nintendo hasn't been successful because obviously you don't sell more consoles than the PS2 at the same point in the life cycles and not be successful. I just think the different strategies and business models of MS vs. Nintendo will see 3rd and 1st party flourish with this new tech if it indeed has core gamers in mind.

[Viper86]

Everyone went crazy when they first tried they Wii, saying how great it was. Look what most people think of it now.....

I think the samething will happen with Natal. Holding up an imaginary steering wheel would get rather tiring after a while.