So I have seen all of the conferences for E3 2011 and I have some feedback that I am going to share with you.
Microsoft:
First off, it is great to see all of the new Kinect titles for the 360 being released including the ones that go for more of the hardcore audience. The games shown at the conference were what you came to expect from the conference with Modern Warfare 3, Tomb Raider, Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3, and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier naming a few. What really impressed me was the Tomb Raider game and the Ghost Recon / Mass Effect Kinect mechanics. It’s really the only way you can add the Kinect to those types of games. I also liked the new announcements of Live TV and YouTube appearing on X-Box. One question I have though is will there be a subscription fee for the Live TV? Will XBL subscribers have to pay more a year for their Gold Membership? Honestly, if this is successful, I just found another reason not to get cable or a dish at my place. Did I mention Halo 4, 5, and 6 were announced too?
EA:
EA rolled into their conference showing the usual sports games as well as the new story mode Need for Speed: The Run which I am not sure about yet. They also showed The Old Republic for like 3 minutes which made a lot of people upset because they did not announce a release date yet or preorder details. Mass Effect 3 also returned with a new viewing of Earth and let me just say that Ashley from Mass Effect 1 looks much better. Thank you. Then you saw Anderson, Garrus, Liara, Kaiden, and Mordin with a VO from Wrex. Looks like the crew is starting to get back together to take out some Reapers. Awesome. They ended their show with Battlefield 3 which I have to say is looking very impressive on the PC. So now I have to decide to get it for 360 or PC…hmm.
Ubisoft:
Ubisoft had an interesting conference with caffeine guy…wasn’t a fan really. Started with Rayman: Origins which I liked to be honest. I never played Rayman, but this interested me. The main games that interested me here were FarCry 3 which returns to the island from the first game but a different character and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. The CGI trailer for this game was amazing and the music for it was top notch. I would say that this trailer may be up in the Gears of War – Mad World trailer ranks.
Sony:
Sony first discussed the PSN network outage and to be honest, they needed to get it out of the way. Sony has been getting a lot of publicity for that and they are still having issues to this day. After that they showed some Resistance 3, Uncharted 3, and some new focused Playstation Move titles. They also showed some classic HD remakes like the Ico Collection and God of War Origins collection. When they introduced the NGP now known as PS Vita, I was interested but I am not entirely sure if I would buy it first thing. The games that make Sony are there but I am more of a console person. I am behind on handhelds and if they are transferring data from PS Vita to PS3, I might as well just play them on the PS3. 250 dollars for WiFi and 300 for 3G. And the 3G is with AT&T…I wonder how that 2GB limit is gonna work for everyone?
Nintendo:
Let me say that I was very disappointed with Nintendo’s conference. I didn’t really enjoy it at all. Yes, I like Zelda, but I think I didn’t like it that much because they focused more on the 3DS and not much on Wii products. They did, however, announce the Wii U, the next console in the Nintendo series. They didn’t show the console, but it is online. They showed the controller which is a iPad with Nintendo controls. (2 analogs, d-pad, buttons, etc.) In the middle of the controller is the interesting part. If you want to continue playing a game when someone switches the TV to something they want to watch you can continue to play in the controller. Awesome idea. It is backwards compatible with Wii games and accessories. It is also 1080p. It makes me wonder what the price will be for the console. I would hope cheaper. The first announced game for the new console was a Lego game that seem to copy Grand Theft Auto (not exactly, but that’s what it looked like).
Recap:
This year was mainly focused on the big hitting titles and this holiday season is going to have a bunch. Battlefield 3, Rage, Batman: Arkham City, and Gears of War 3 are in the clear for sure but a lot of the games being released in November and December will have competition just due to the fan base for each game. Skyrim alone I believe said had about 300+ hours of gameplay with the 250 dungeons. Include Modern Warfare 3, Resistance 3, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Uncharted 3, and Halo Anniversary; you have a bunch of games all being released in a 2 week period.
Start working overtime…you are gonna need the cash. That or conquer one game at a time. Cheers for having a birthday in November and Christmas the next month.
