E3 is this week. I've always seen it as an exciting and irritating time for gamers; all this cool stuff is revealed and announced, but it is more than often several months (if not a year or more) away from actually being available to the general public. So, cool stuff abounds, but no touchy. Great. This year's E3 seems to be going great, even being named as one of the best ones in recent years. Lots going on in the industry, companies trying new things, and even some going back to the things that they're good at. So, in no particular order, here's my favorite stuff from the expo so far:
Sony's Next Generation Portable named and detailed - This might be the thing I was looking forward to the most, as it's my opinion that portable devices, gaming or otherwise, tend to be more innovative that more traditional, desktop devices. When Sony officially revealed the device in February as the NGP, I knew I wanted one. Front and back touchscreens, OLED screen, dual analog sticks, dual cameras, gyroscope.... It's like an iPhone and a PSP had a baby. Monday the official name ("Vita," which is some other language's word for "Life") and pricing were revealed, along with more games and miscellaneous details that make me real excited for the potential this system has. Though going for AT&T as the exclusive carrier for the 3G equipped model in the US wasn't the smartest idea. They could've done some market research on that, or even just looked at some forums to see that that wasn't the best choice. But I wasn't planning on buying the 3G model anyway, so screw that noise. I'm doubtful about the "end of 2011 worldwide" release date though, especially with all the bad things happening in Japan now. Still, I want one bad.
Wii U unveiled - More an evolution of the Wii than a completely new system concept, Nintendo seems to have made a lateral move with this new system, rather than the leap forward they were going for, at least in my view. Remember the bit earlier about an iPhone mating with a PSP? Well Nintendo made a similar concept with the controller for their new system, except it's more of an "iPad and a 360 controller" kind of vibe. The system itself is more on par with the PS3 and 360, power-wise, which opens up the system to getting in on the ports of games that are actually popular, rather than crappy dumbed-down versions with controls that suck, so it's a decent business move, and the concepts for the new controller (at least ones that Nintendo have shown off) are interesting, but the thing is that only one of the new controllers can connect to the system at a time. And other than that, you can use the standard Wii remotes and such. This makes very little sense to me. But that may change in the time it takes to actually come out. I've been burned by Nintendo, the Wii left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, with only maybe a dozen games on it that were worth it. So we'll see.
Sony's $500 3DTV - A Playstation branded TV, 24inch, that can do 3D, not to mention a mode that sends 2 different images to 2 different glasses? For $500? I'd say that's a good idea. A good way to get a usually expensive newer technology into more folk's hands, albeit on a smaller scale.
Mass Effect 3 - I'm still miffed that this isn't coming until March, but if it means it's a good game, I'm ok with it. Sorta. A focus on melee combat with a cool looking sci-fi arm blade, and the glimpses of the RPG systems and weapon modding is pretty interesting. My concern is about distribution, specifically for the PC version. Is EA going to make it (or its deluxe edition) available exclusively on it's new Origin service? Or are they going to keep it more open and use more established services (Steam, Direct2Drive, etc.) as well? No one seems to know, and with EA being, well, EA, they could honestly go either way, as both ways have ups and downs. Oh, and the 360 version has voice command through the Kinect. Whatever.
Plus glimpses at upcoming games that make me happy: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, BioShock Infinite, Uncharted 3, etc. The next year seems like a good one for games, and gamers of all shapes. I'm hoping Nintendo can make up for the Wii, at least to the core gaming crowd. Sony has a decent amount to make up for as well, but seems on their way to cementing a decent position. Microsoft.... eh. Kinect doesn't do much for me, and the new concepts they put out for it this week, while interesting, don't make me want to go out and buy one. As E3 winds down, it seems like Sony and Nintendo are more or less tied for the "winner" of the show, though personally I'd tend to lean more towards Sony. Nintendo has too much to prove, and time will tell wether they will get those people who actually play games to come back to them.
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