E3 Roundup – The Big 3: Who wins?

Ok folks, I’ve been busting my ass off to get all this info into one nice and tidy location to give you an update on all the news that’s come out of E3. Today I bring you the Big 3 Press Conference Roundup.

Microsoft
– Xbox Slim revealed, on its way to retail and I pout for the rest of the day because I don’t like the design
– UK launch date of July 16th for Xbox 360 Slim
– “Natal” is now known as “Kinect” gets November 4th launch date in North America but still no firm pricing details aside from Gamestop accepting pre-orders at a price of $149.99
– Call of Duty DLC to get times Xbox exclusivity until 2012
– Metal Gear Solid Rising gets Kinect support
– Crytek reveals Xbox 360 exclusive Codename Kingdoms. Very little is shown at this point
– Star Wars Kinect feels the Force in what could be a pretty cool game
– Fable III takes to the stage and makes me think that this could well be the best game in the series by far from the looks of it alone. Fable 3 is due out on October 26th
– Ubisoft reveals Kinect fitness title and my wife tells me she has to have this (Anyone from Ubisoft able to help us out)
– Gears of War 3 gets demoed and Cliffy B mentions “Beast Mode” but they don’t show it at the press event; upon further investigation Beast is like Horde Mode but you use the Locusts (Sign me up)
– Forza 4 announced, gets Kinect support
– Microsoft reveals controller-less Video Kinect software and 5 of the launch titles which all appear to have their own level of fun
– Total Halo series sales reach 34m worldwide
– Kinectimals gives Xbox 360 the cute factor and I sigh heavily with complete indifference
– ESPN signs free content deal for Gold subscribers and this is awesome news with 3500 live and pre-recorded events
– Kinect Sports revealed
– Kinect gets lenghty demo
– Dance Central eyes big audience – Blech
– Doubters silenced by impressive Kinect demonstration – Kinect is available on November 4th 2010
– Microsoft eyes 100m userbase
– 2010 “a year of transformation” for Xbox

All in All it was a decent showing by MS but I felt a little underwhelmed by the amount of software they showed off. There really isn’t all that much in the way of “HOLY CRAP” software titles coming exclusive to MS this year or next that they showed. Kinect looks like it has the potential to be alot of fun and extremely innovative. It’s like the future is appearing before our very eyes with this new technology so here’s hoping that the developers are working hard on Killer Apps for this thing and we hear about them sooner than later. While we’re still on the topic of Kinect, MS failed to deliver a concrete price – EBGames and GameStop are accepting pre-orders at $149 which may be a little high for some people who still haven’t seen any proper titles aside from the minigame apps they showed at E3. The nice thing is that you can still do up to 4 people with Kinect with no extra hardware.

I give Microsoft a B-

Nintendo

– Zelda: Skyward Sword announced by Miyamoto and demoed by them man himself only to experience “Interference” when trying to show the game’s “1:1 accuracy”
– Zelda the Skyward Sword is due out sometime in 2011 (if the past is any indicator, this is negotiable)
– Nintendo 3DS announced officially
– No launch date for 3DS
– Wide publisher support for 3DS praised
– Kid Icarus to front 3DS march and the crowd erupts in cheers for the little guy (I admit that I was kinda excited to see him too)
– Dragon Quest 9 for the DS is coming Stateside in 26 days
– Donkey Kong Country Returns and everyone who owned a SNES wiped a small tear from their face
– 3D move support for 3DS
– Mario Sports Mix debuts but won’t be available until 2011
– Epic Mickey due this Q4 and it looks effin sweet man. I must play this game.
– NBA Jam takes to the stage
– Just Dance 2 dated for Christmas – any male over the age of 11 yawns
– Wii Party dated
– Reggie refutes ‘Wii slump claims’
– Goldeneye gets officially unveiled and every fanboy who still claims that N64 was a great system in part to the original title sheds tears of joy and checks their shorts
– Kirby’s Epic Yarn debuts and is due out this Fall – Looks pretty but not my cup of tea
– Metroid Other M gets US date of August 31 2010
– Nintendo’s & Cats heading to 3DS – Yawn

Nintendo came out swinging for the fence this year – They started off with a bang by announcing the new Zelda game and the fun didn’t stop there. Seems that Big N is feeling nostalgic these days with the re-emergence of Donkey Kong Country, Kid Icarus, Metroid and Kirby. The official unveiling of 3DS was exciting and I can’t wait to get my hands on it to see just how awesome the 3D looks without the glasses. They lost the heart rate sensor this year and no more idiotic looking music games on the stage either. This is what the Nintendo fans have been waiting for – A solid showing by Nintendo showing off nothing but awesome 1st party titles but where are the killer 3rd party titles?

I give Nintendo a B

Sony
– Move given price, launch date; Sept 19th in the USA and Sept 15th is Europe at a bundle price with the PS Eye, a move controller and game for $99
– Gran Turismo 5 gets release date and supports 3D on Nov 2, 2010
– Valve connects Steam to PS3 and Gabe Newell finally sells out and removes foot from mouth; Portal 2 coming to PS3
– PSN subscription service on the way at a price of $49.99 for the year and includes a variety of cool extras including free games; Service to start the end of June 2010
– PS3 gets exclusive content for Mafia 2, Medal of Honor and Dead Space 2
– Medal of Honor Beta exclusive to PS3 of June 21st and release date of Oct 12, 2010
– Current PS3 titles get Move update (Tiger Woods 2011 and Heavy Rain to name a few)
– New game Sorcery revealed – Looks like this could be an awesome game; Due out in 2011
– Killzone 3 dated; Feb 2011 and demoed in 3D; I am green with envy of anyone with 3D TV
– Twisted Metal PS3 closes show and I drool and get whisked back to my high school years and late nights killing my buddies on split screen until the wee hours of the morning
– Final Fantasy XIV showcased
– Third parties show big 3D support; 20 3D titles to be available by March 2011
– Sony ‘fronting 3D movement’ with over 35 million installed PS3s that are already 3D ready by a small software update
– 70 new PSP games promised by Christmas
– 40 publishers working on Move games
– Sly Cooper coming to PS3 in 3D
– Heroes on the Move announced
– Move ties massive Coca-Cola promo deal
– New PSP ad drive kicks off
– LittleBigPlanet 2 gets demoed and it looks so sweet
– Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood gets PS3-only content
– Infamous 2 coming in 2011 and I really love the new art direction and character designs.

This was a good event – It had some surprises, comedy all thanks in part to the man Kevin Butler who everyone loves and it showcased some awesome titles. Move looks to be nothing more than Wii HD as many have dubbed it but the accuracy appeared to be incredible and golf looked to be just amazing. I love 3D and have been a huge supporter of it for years. To know that my PS3 is already to go is exciting to me regardless of my lack of proper 3D hardware (Christmas is coming). In general I think Sony had more titles that interested me despite the fact that they showed much of their hand in the weeks precluding to E3.

I give Sony a B+

All in all we all win as gamers but I would have to give the slight edge to Sony as the big winner with Nintendo close behind and Microsoft in the caboose at 3rd place.