E3 2009

[Crosswind Ghost]

Microsoft: B
Sony: B-
Nintendo: C-

 

[SouLeSS]

Out of the three conferences (Didn't watch all of Nintendo, cause again, couldn't care less), I think Sony takes it.

Not only did they do a very good job of blending the information with clips, movies, gameplay and trailers, but they did something the others didn't. Held my interest. Sure, I couldn't give two ****s about the new MGS game or GTPSP, but other than that I was watching attentively the whole time. Hell, the little montage of all the upcoming PSP games had me looking foward to at least 10, if not 20, and the similar PS3 montage of upcoming games was near equal.

Microsoft just kinda patted themselves on the back the entire time, and Nintendo. Well, it's Nintendo. They do the same **** every year, announce new casual ware, announce a new zelda or metroid or non-mario character game, announce a new mario game or two.

 

[Dark Helmet]

In the booth. Just saw Perfect Dark on XBLA running 1080p. It is coming to XBLA this winter. Free theme coming tomorrow!

http://***********/majornelson/status/2008690137

 

[Spider-Jay]

I was very disapointed with the "Sonymote".
I already knew i would be, but even so.
So, basically, what Sony did was to replace the sensor bar with the Playstation Eye for a more 1:1 experience, and replaced the Wiimote and Nunchuck with two Sonymotes.
So, besides the more 1:1 experience, they basically created the Wii...on the PS3.

At least Microsoft brought innovation on the all motion control and made it their own product

While I agree that MS' Natal is the most interesting, I wouldn't call it innovative.

It's impressive sure, but at the end of the day, its simply a next-generation Playstation Eye Toy.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

If Eye Toy can make what it was shown with the Milo kid, i give you reason, if not no, you´re wrong.
Not to defend MS or anything, but Eye Toy doesn´t even come close to what Natal is.
Voice recognition, facial recognition, 3D motion, full body, and from what´ve read, it can even recognize your fingers individually and i guess that´s just the tip of the iceberg, it will evolve even more until release, which i believe, not before Fall 2010....so...c´mon....

You can say that Eye Toy paved the way, but that´s it, and it paved it very lightly in comparison.

 

[SouLeSS]

Right. So it's about as similar to the EyeToy as the Wiimote is to the PS3M.

 

[Raiden]

If Eye Toy can make what it was shown with the Milo kid, i give you reason, if not no, you´re wrong.
Not to defend MS or anything, but Eye Toy doesn´t even come close to what Natal is.
Voice recognition, facial recognition, 3D motion, full body, and from what´ve read, it can even recognize your fingers individually and i guess that´s just the tip of the iceberg, it will evolve even more until release, which i believe, not before Fall 2010....so...c´mon....

You can say that Eye Toy paved the way, but that´s it, and it paved it very lightly in comparison.

I agree, although my biggest concern regarding Natal is its lack of a controller, which may limit the kind of games 3rd parties can develop for this technology. For instance, how do you move your head independent of your body movement? And how about switching weapons, toggle abilities like zooming, etc.? I hope it won't be restricted to games that used very basic and simple motion and application.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Right. So it's about as similar to the EyeToy as the Wiimote is to the PS3M.

Dude.....errrrr.....whatever...here, have a cookie...

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

I agree, although my biggest concern regarding Natal is its lack of a controller, which may limit the kind of games 3rd parties can develop for this technology. For instance, how do you move your head independent of your body movement? And how about switching weapons, toggle abilities like zooming, etc.? I hope it won't be restricted to games that used very basic and simple motion and application.

Either they will release somekind of peripheral, because of the lack of resistance; or you will be able to scan everything and anything (our body and movements included), which means that you "make" your own controller.

 

[Timstuff]

games are meant to be played with joysticks or controllers....these motion sensing peripherals are toys, pure and simple....

I agree to an extent, although I can definitely see some applications for motion control if properly integrated, like for an RTS game or an arcade style light gun shooter. Since publishers can put out small games through PSN with relatively little overhead, we might actually start seeing some games which actually take advantage of it.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXx3vMy_AQ&fmt=22

 

[Fading]

If Eye Toy can make what it was shown with the Milo kid, i give you reason, if not no, you´re wrong.

...Eye Toy doesn´t even come close to what Natal is.

Voice recognition, facial recognition, 3D motion, full body, and from what´ve read, it can even recognize your fingers individually....so...c´mon....

You can say that Eye Toy paved the way, but that´s it, and it paved it very lightly in comparison.

It's not quite the same, but I think he's right that the PS Eye was closer than ppl think. It was pretty sensitive. This was the PS Eye pet game for PS3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTarqm4FCDY

The pet could interact with what you drew and interact with it in a similar way that that kid did in that game. That Eye of Magic card game also had monsters snap at your fingers and such after they appeared. Voice recognition also appeared on the PS2 game Lifeline if memory serves. So it's not so much new tech, as various techs put together in one package.

 

[Fading]

As a side note to the above, not trying to downplay Natal. It's not my thing, but it is impressive. It's just that it's not a pioneer as much as a complete package of various other voice, facial, and body recognition tech. These techs exisited, they just weren't heavily used in gaming before.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

As a side note to the above, not trying to downplay Natal. It's not my thing, but it is impressive. It's just that it's not a pioneer as much as a complete package of various other voice, facial, and body recognition tech. These techs exisited, they just weren't heavily used in gaming before.

Sure, none that Natal does was created by Microsoft, i don´t even pretend it to be so.
As for Eye Pet, not to downplay that, but you can´t actually have any idea by that trailer, no gameplay, just a cat-ape like creature running around on the table.

 

[Spider-Jay]

As a side note to the above, not trying to downplay Natal. It's not my thing, but it is impressive. It's just that it's not a pioneer as much as a complete package of various other voice, facial, and body recognition tech. These techs exisited, they just weren't heavily used in gaming before.

Exactly.

Don't get me wrong, of the three motion sensing "controllers" MS' Natal is by far the most impressive and interesting.

The reason for that however, is not because it's doing something entirely new, but it is combining a list of great ideas and putting them together in one neat package.

It's an evolution, not a revolution.

 

[hippie_hunter]

In my opinion I think Sony and Microsoft are tied this year. They both brought some rather intriguing designs to motion control and they both brought some pretty good surprises (Agent and Final Fantasy XIV exclusively for PS3 and Metal Gear Solid: Rising on the 360) and good games.

I found myself disappointed in Nintendo though.

 

[BlackLantern]

but Final Fantasy XIV is an MMO....so does that really count??

 

[Tron Bonne]

In the long run, probably not

 

[Jager X]

it is not a true sequel to the console series so.....

 

[Spider-Jay]

I don't think its possible to give a definitive "winner" for E3.

I mean, each person's taste is different, no? And as such, different announcements hold different levels of anticipation for different people.

For example, my cousin is a huge Metroid fan and that announcement alone has caused him to believe that Nintendo had the best E3 (although I heartily disagree).

I personally thought all 3 big companies did an excellent job. Yes, that includes Nintendo. Why? B/c they catered to their audience- which are the casual gamers. Their stuff may not interest us hardcores, but that doesn't mean their presentation was an automatic fail. There are many who would claim Ninty had the best E3- simply b/c their taste in games is different.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yay, Weibe actually broke the record

 

[Jager X]

i thought he failed??

 

[Tron Bonne]

He did twice, and on his third try the power went out. He did it the fourth try

 

[Havok83]

I cant believe Square is already bringing out FF XIV when they cant even get FF vs XIII out. They need to focus on that title

 

[Tron Bonne]

Well, to be fair, I'm going to assume XIV is being done by a totally separate entity within Square. Also, they were talking about XI well before X hit.

It was a surprise, though, really unexpected