So, the big three have all had their moment in the sun for 2010 and while who pulled off the best showing will be dictated by your fanboy interpretations lets take a moment to review each of the three keynotes and see who pulled off the best showing of E3 from as unbiased of an opinion as I can give you. I’ll be using a ‘+/-’ system to assign my pluses and minuses of each keynote.
Last up its…
- They choose to kick things off by hyping the PS3 3D compatible games. Compatible if you have a 3D tv and accompanying 3D glasses. So invest $3000 in 3D equipment and your all set! Oh and then you have to wear glasses while you play!
- Killzone 3 is next and its in 3D. Were either of the first two Killzone games any fun? I don’t seem to recall either being great games but maybe I’m forgetting something. Either way its no Gears of War or Halo thats for sure.
+ Super montage of 3D games was next and overall I like the lineup; Motorstorm 3, Ghost Recon, Tron, NBA 2k11 (aka the Michael Jordan comeback tour), Sly Cooper HD, MLB 2k11, EyePet and Gran Tursimo 5. I like the lineup but I like the lineup as regular games so I’m not sure if the 3D is an overwhelming plus here or not.
- Mortal Kombat fatality in 3D…ewwww
+ Sorcery is essentially a non licensed Harry Potter game for use with Move. Looks fun and I like the idea of the move controller being used as a magic wand but they were definitely having some control issues, here is hoping that’s not a sign of the finished product.
-Tiger Woods 11 looked pretty good but it doesn’t seem any different then what we already have for golfing on the Wii, that and its not a PS3 exclusive game. There’s that theme again!
+ Heroes on the Move: All of the Playstations greatest platforming heroes (Jak, Daxter, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank) in one title sounds pretty good to me but its supposed to be a moved based game and we don’t exactly know how the control will be implemented. Here is hoping for the best.
- Pricing for the Move seems confusing to me at $50 for the move and $30 for the navigation controller but I guess its actually the same as the Wii-Mote/Nunchuck idea. Also available in a $100 bundle with the eye camera and Sports Champions. So for those of you scoring at home, for the complete Move experience you will need 4 pieces of hardware: 1. PS3 2. Eye Camera 3. Move itself and 4. Navigation controller. Is that confusing enough? Maybe I’m making more out of this then it really is.
+ New Time Crisis that uses move as the gun. Never been a fan of Light Gun games personally but Time Crisis was one of the best and it has alot of fans. Nice move showing an experience you only get on PS3…hmm where did that idea come from?
+ God of War: Ghost of Sparta. Good looking game but I’m sorry I own a PSP and even I acknowledge that its a dead system. Sony just needs to pack it in and give up on the handheld market or move on to a new version. When your local Walmart or Target only carries a handful of titles you’ve got a dead system and no I doubt its because everyone is downloading games on their PSP Go!
- Mythical announcement of 70 new PSP games released between now and December but said titles were not announced. Guess the aforementioned retailers above will need to increase their shelf space! Seriously though when they thrown out 70 games and don’t say more more then “Patapon 3!” does that mean anything?
- Um Sony took time out of their E3 keynote to hype up a second season of The Tester…really? Does anyone care about this?
+Little Big Planet 2 – Looks to take everything about the first game and increase it tenfold. Of course all the info shared here was pretty much shown two months ago in Game Informer but…
-——PlayStation Plus: Okay let me see if I have this straight. Since the days of the PS2 network adapter Sony has gone on and on about their free online service and how they were so much better then XBOX Live because they were free and blah blah blah. Now suddenly we just have to have a pay version of that service with “exclusive” content only available to the Plus members much of which I’m sure will be mimicking XBOX Live or taking away content from the current free model (already announced exclusive demos) …I’m sorry Sony but this totally sucks the big one. Its like you decided to hype up the fact that you are punishing your fanbase by making them pay for a service that you couldn’t even be bothered to explain.
- Medal of Honor: again, spending time at your keynote to hype a game that will appear on the competitions systems is just stupid. Unless you don’t have enough exclusive content to fill a blasted 2 hour press conference…OH WAIT YOU GET AN EXCLUSIVE HD REMAKE OF A PREVIOUS CRAPPY MEDAL OF HONOR GAME IF YOU BUY THE PS3 VERSION!!! EXCLUSIVE CONTENT, SUCK IT XBOX!!!
Sorry about that I really don’t get these guys…
- So then they follow that up with Dead Space 2. Yes its a cool looking game but see the rant above…its an XBOX game too!!!!
- Portal 2 is shown and I guess its part of the Sony conference because they paid Gabe Newell to come on stage and say that the PS3 version is the best console version!
—Mafia II, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood…for those of you scoring at home Sony just spent the last 15 minute hyping up really awesome games that you can buy on the XBOX. But oh we have exclusive content, no we do! AHHHHHHHH!!!!
-Final Fantasy XIV: thats right I just gave a “-” to a Final Fantasy game. Why? At last years E3 when they announced this it was a huge shock and one of the delights of the show. In the last year the Alpha has come out and for all intents and purposes this game is Final Fantasy XI but with prettier graphics. I don’t get it, has Square learned nothing from Final Fantasy XI? Was it really popular enough that the world was clamoring for a sequel? After Final Fantasy XIII and now this I’m starting to lose my faith in Square.
+ Gran Turismo 5: Finally a really big deal. Sony can’t bring this one to market soon enough. If you remember, Gran Turismo 3 was a system mover for the PS2 when it came out and this is poised to do the same as long as its not too late. November 2 is the release date, ahh thats only like a year later then the previous release date…so that sucks but great looking game anyway.
+InFamous 2: Would have been cooler if it hadn’t been fully revealed in the Game Informer Magazine I recieved last week…
+/- Lastly Twisted Metal…Seriously Twisted Metal in 2011? That kind of announcement just goes to show how weak Sony’s stable of first party games really is.
While Sony’s presentation was definitely better then Microsoft the whole thing left me feeling flat. They spent a good chunk of the presentation hyping games that are not Sony exclusive. It doesn’t exactly scream out why I should buy a PS3.
I’m a little concerned by the lack of hype surrounding Move also. I know they showed it off earlier in the year so it didn’t need a grandiose reveal here but where exactly are the games for this thing? I have yet to hear anyone say why it gives me a more compelling experience than the Wii I already have sitting in my living room.
Overall I have to say I was underwhelmed by the presentation. The only bits of shocking news were an actual release date for Gran Tursimo 5 and Twisted Metal…
Both Sony and Microsoft have a lot to learn about hyping what makes you different then everyone else and not experiences that you can get on any system.
To summarize for 2010…I have to say advantage Nintendo.
