Another year, another E3 come and gone. Bit of a strange flavor to this one. Seems like the Big 3 (Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft) went different routes that they normally have been in the past few year, which turned out to be a big win for Nintendo.
Every since the launch of the Wii, Nintendo has been hyping the motion control and the party games. Nice way to promote the technology, but remember Wii Music? Total flop. This year, Nintendo employed the strategy of its competitors: hype the games. Without a doubt, fans have been upset over the lack of support for Wii games, particularly first party titles. Well this year Nintendo fixed that by leaps and bounds. New Zelda, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Kirby, Donkey Kong, and others round out one of the strongest lineups for any console in years. Even so, Nintendo still broke out some new hardware: the 3DS. This fantastic piece of technology can allow you to switch games from 2D to 3D...without glasses! Combined with 3D movies and the ability to take 3D pictures, Nintendo just tightened its grip on the handheld market. Expect a post on the 3DS very soon. I will admit, I was disappointed that there was no mention of any Wii HD, Wii online service, or Wii hard drive. Fingers crossed for next year!
Microsoft and Sony have pushed their games in recent years, but this year both took a nod from Nintendo and introduced motion control gaming. As far as I'm concerned, while both were blatantly ripping off Nintendo, Sony did a much better job. The XBOX Kinect is a great idea. Fantastic, in fact. However, what games is it getting? Party games. As in, "I have a Wii and Wii Sports, why do I want to buy the same games for the 360?" Will this hurt the 360? Probably not initially, as there are many consoles out there, and I'm sure people won't be able to resist. However, Microsoft is going to need to get out some quality games fast. Sony, for the first time since the PS2, seems to have a firm jump on this. Not only do they have 1:1 motion control, but they're getting hardcore games ready for it. For instance, Killzone 3, a huge upcoming title, will incorporate the Playstation Move technology. And to top it off, the PS3 will be the first console to play games in 3D! This is a huge win for Sony, and may be what the company had planned all along. Only time will tell.
That's all I have for now. Of course, there were so many more things at this year's E3 than I have mentioned here. What was your favorite?
