E3: Sony Moves It Moves It... With Nerdy Glasses

Last year, I thought Sony made the best conference, because they offered the promise of motion controls and actual games. This year, well, after watching Nintendo, it's hard to see them top it.

And I don't think they did. They were close, but they were slightly less awesome than Nintendo. If only because they want to force their glasses on the masses.

Still Kevin Butler: "Who wants to pretend their hand is a gun? What is this, third grade?" LOL. I do hope he goes out on stage.

Anyways, after the montage, Jack Tretton comes out on stage and right off the bat, disses Microsoft. "No ponchos."

From here on, I'm already really excited only because Microsoft's speaker sucked big time.

Jack Tretton is a huge mile away from that Microsoft dude.

Anyway, Jack Tretton's tempting me to finally buy a PS3 and highlights a few games. PSP, not so much.

He segueways into "3D High Definition" and summons Mr. Riiiiiiiidge Racer! to the stage... I mean, Kaz Hirai of course.

"PS is about innovation and content. In the next year, PS will take both innovation and content to a completely new level. Sony is the undisputed leader in 3D, and what PlayStation did for Blu-ray, it will do for 3D as well," says Hirai. He wants people to buy both a BRAVIA 3DTV and a few games that are compatible with 3D today, and explains that PS3's are already 3D-ready. OK. Now what?

Killzone 3, of course.

I guess being ambitious with a game is good, but me with my chronic FPS nausea combined with 3D is huge no-no. The audience is urged to wear glasses (sigh...) and well, of course, I can't really give my own impressions of the game. Still, the graphics do look quite good on its own without the 3D gimmickry, and... there are apparently some flying robots you'll be shooting. On a home theatre, I imagine this will be enthralling, but not everyone has a home theatre. Hell, you'll have to be a 3D capable projector for that too. And a few more pairs of $150 glasses. With that money, you could buy a 360, a Live Gold subscription and games.

But we're not here to trash talk any more of Sony, partly because I hold much faith for the PS3 anyway even if I don't have one.

Killzone's reaching out to you in 2011, February with PS Move support.

Hirai goes on to name drop a lot of games that'll be compatible with 3D. The Sly Collection (remastered Sly Cooper trilogy), Mortal Kombat, Shaun White, Tron, etc. Please, I do not want the glasses.

Sony then wants to sell some 3DTV's by showing a demo reel. Frankly, I don't want to bother embedding a video.

15th anniversary of the PlayStation and 10th for the PS2. It's the second most-played console last year, but of course, it's hard to say if there's really going to be any more support for new titles. Duh.

Next is more PlayStation Move sales talk. We've seen the action in GDC, and I wonder what other games they'll be demoing this time.

Kevin Butler is definitely a huge selling point for this device. Whoops, I mean... uhh... never mind.

A new game being demoed for the Move is Sorcery.

Looks pretty okay, and as always, 1:1 is impressive. There isn't as much jittering as there was in GDC... oh wait, there was some jittering during the potion thing.

But anyway, there are quite a few creative concepts at play here (ie, I love the "creating a firestorm"), and yeah. It looks pretty decent. Art design doesn't particularly stand out to me for some reason.

Andrew Wilson for EA Sports is next so he can demo Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.

Who knows if it really controls any differently than, say, the Wii Motion Plus so it's hard to say if Move truly is superior. In the HDTV they were using, there was quite a bit of lag so, a bit iffy really. It got better eventually.

Heroes on the Move makes an appearance as a trailer. Features several Sony mascots like Ratchet, Clank, Jax, Daxter, Sly Cooper, and 2 more I don't know.

Coca-Cola is made a partner to advertise Move. There will be a promo that will entitle you to a Move, or some Move games.

Whatever.

And then, Kevin Butler comes to the stage. Now things get interesting.

Somewhat unscripted, he plays on the motion control trend, Kinect, and more. This dude is awesome. Even if he doesn't game and he says "I love gaming," I'd believe him. FOREVER MAY GAMING REIGN! Dammit, he's the best thing Sony's ever done.

September is the release window, and the Move will be priced at 50 dollars, while the navigation controller will be 30. A "Sports Champion bundle" will be priced at $100, while a PS3 with Move bundle is #400. On launch, there will be about 15-20 titles for Move.

Time Crisis, Singstar, Echochrome, etc. will be some of those games, while some existing games will get updates for compatibility.

Next, a video for Move.

Oh come on, two Move controllers for volleyball? Seriously? There's like a conspiracy in play here. Sports Champions, Start the Party, Singstar, Eyepet, Heroes on the Move, TV Superstars, SOCOM 4, Time Crisis Razing Storm, The Shoot, Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition, Lord of the Rings, Tron Evolution, Sorcery are the games included in the trailer.

PSP is next. A new ad campaign is unveiled with Peace Walker featured.

It's called "Meet Marcus". And he's kind of annoying.

OK, Sony, any games?

Invizimals is apparently a "major" enough game to market. Meh. Uses augmented reality for pets like Kinectimals.

But alas, we have God of War: Ghost of Sparta. Ready at Dawn returns to the PSP. There must be hope.

Tretton name drops a few more games, and there will be "70 new titles by December". Look! ModNation! Kingdom Hearts! Hot Shots!

The 3rd Birthday looks really interesting.

Next part of the talk is the rather notorious PSN.

It hosts some shows like "The Tester" and will be expanding to other countries. PlayStation Home will also have its own version of the Sony E3 booth, and... I guess it's pretty cool?

Jack Tretton also announced Sony's acquisition of Media Molecule, and that could only mean some more creative exclusives for the PlayStation. After the rather exciting trailer released a few weeks ago, it would be pretty cool to see an actual demo of their promise for "a platform for games".

I'm surprised there weren't any Move demoes for this game.

PlayStation Plus is then announced, which takes PSN to the next level. It's a subscription service that promises exclusive content, exclusive betas, Minis, discounts and more. It's $49.99 for a full year. 3 months free for now.

But will it have good servers and party chat?

Still, I like Chrono Cross for free. Although it's kind of weird not to match Microsoft's ESPN, Netflix and Facebook offerings.

An EA executive is then called to the stage to announce some PS exclusives. Medal of Honor is going to receive some exclusive content apparently.

There's going to be a multiplayer map, and the beta will be available June 21. There will be a remastered version of Medal of Honor Frontline.

Next: Dead Space 2.

That is intense, kind of creepy even. Damn, I have to finish the first one, pronto.

Dead Space 2 Limited Edition will include Dead Space Extraction with Move support. For PS3. He goes on to mention all the other major EA franchises. Well, how about Mass Effect? Yeah, thought so.

Next: GLaDOS!

HOLY CRAP. VALVE. GABE NEWELL.

He's eating his words as he speaks.

The cake is not a lie: Portal 2 is coming to the PS3. "It's been a long time. How have you been?"

Portal 2 looks insane. Even though I suffered massive nausea with the first one, I still really loved it. Kudos to Sony for actually negotiating with Valve instead of poo-pooing it.

Next is Final Fantasy XIV Online.

It's an MMO much like Final Fantasy XI, and apparently it's pretty much PS3 exclusive unlike its predecessor.

Mafia II is name-dropped, and will feature day-one exclusive DLC for PS3.

Ubisoft is next and expanding Assassin's Creed with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. It will feature a multiplayer mode, and will only have a PS3 beta.

Well, that's a lot of exclusives.

A PS3 games reel is shown next, because Sony wants people to remember that no, CoD is not 360-exclusive, MGS Rising is not 360-exclusive and Madden is most definitely not 360-exclusive.

A lot of them titles intrigue me highly.

Gran Turismo 5 the title that's been exhibited around since God-knows-when is getting featured again.

Graphics look absurdly realistic. Top Gear videos a nice touch.

Concrete release date, please? Oh look, finally: November 2, 2010. Absurd.

Sucker Punch Studios is up next for inFamous 2. Cole's back and more electrifying than ever.

Looks like he has ice powers, that's... wait for it, cool.

Another trailer is shown. An ad for what though?

Twisted Metal.

That's kind of disturbing. Clowns? Lol, what?

David Jaffe is back on stage to pretty much seal the deal for Sony. And what better way to do that than to demonstrate some destruction?

Crazy classic gameplay right there.

A new team mode is also introduced, "designed to bring out skill and strategy". It's called Twisted Metal Nuke and it takes place in a dilapidated, post-apocalyptic-ish city that's ripe for destruction.

Woah, that's just crazy and sadistic.

I guess you can expect no less from the creator of God of War.

Jack Tretton closes the conference with the same summary you'd hear in a Nintendo conference. Only difference is that Tretton actually acknowledges, I don't know, the fans while Reggie flaunted his booth babes to the audience with his smug little face and showed off the 3DS. Granted, the smugness was warranted because the 3DS is kind of awesome, but come on, Ninty, show the fans some sugar.

E3: Nintendo brings on the pain

Reggie Fils-Aime comes on stage because he wants to change the way you view the word "technology". "It shouldn't be about HD, Blu-ray, but it should be about the experience. Great technology married to great design is an experience like no other."

Ninty brings out the big guns, "an experience you've been waiting for". Yes, it's The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Semi-cel-shaded, semi-Twilight Princess. Wow.

Shigeru Miyamoto suddenly appears on a green screen dubbed in English, explaining the history of Zelda development circa 2004.

Wii MotionPlus was apparently key to the development of this new game, and Miyamoto calls for someone to demo the game's new controls. And fails.

Miserably.

Now that things in Nintendo land aren't looking quite good, Miyamoto comes to the rescue!

They're touting 1:1 motion tracking, and it's also failing badly. Hey Shigeru, this game isn't obviously ready for primetime.

Knowing Nintendo though, this game is going to be controlling quite well by release. Maybe there's lag due to the big screen being used, but even with that, the game's obviously still a work-in-progress.

Even with that, I like how you can actually control a few objects more granularly, in the sense that bombs can either be thrown or rolled. Miyamoto's blaming these snafus on Wi-fi interference though, and this is really Steve Jobs of them.

New gadgets include a beetle you can fly around with which is really cool. It'll kind of let you fly around a level to inspect and pick up unreachable items. Another item of interest is a whip you can use. A whip. Your dominatrix Zelda fanfiction just came true.

Seriously though, that whip is cool.

I know what's in store for this conference, but if I were actually watching this keynote for the first time, I would have my expectations lowered, if only because of these technicalities.

Reggie Fils-Aime goes back on stage to announce a new Mario game. No, it's not Galaxy 3, it's a sports game. Has volleyball, hockey, and basketball, all glorified with that arcade style Mario's known for. Coming in 2011, it's Mario Sports Mix. Might be fun, who knows?

Fils-Aime addresses some criticism for Wii, how it has waned in popularity and how games are sold less as time passes. "They're false assumptions," says Reggie. He then goes on to enumerate a lot of first-party games, thus somewhat making Reggie's claims pointless.

He then segueways to Nintendo's next "bridge" game: Wii Party.

In the spirit of Wii Play, it's pretty much another social game that's full of mini-games.

Next, Just Dance. Ubisoft's freaking everywhere.

I don't care much for it.

Fils-Aime goes back to the hardcore gamers by addressing the somewhat brief mention of a Golden Sun game for the DS last year. Now, it's getting a full-on trailer, along with a subtitle (Golden Sun: Dark Dawn). Looks really good.

I'm so loving my DS. Arrives "this holiday season".

Next comes a sudden segment talking about a new Goldeneye game. That's... very surprising! And the graphics look bad, a deliberate homage to the N64 days, or low production values?

I love that it has Daniel Craig in it, and it actually looks exciting. Activision's making it though. Hmm... well, maybe not Treyarch but yeah. It "arrives this holiday".

Epic Mickey is next on the pipeline, and I'm excited to see some really unique gameplay.

Warren Spector, the much-storied designer for Epic Mickey is called on stage to demo the game.

It's a 3D platformer with a catch: you can manipulate the world with your paint and paint thinner. You can draw things and erase the world.

Masahiro Sakurai is being featured by Reggie, and wait for it: Kirby's finally getting a new game in a console! The first time in seven years!

It's called Kirby: Epic Yarn, and the game looks astoundingly unique. This looks like art. Wow. Looks like it supports multiplayer. Releasing "this fall". That's a lot of blockbusters in one year!

Next game: Dragon Quest 9 for the DS. It's out in Japan, with 120 mini-quests (with more on WiFi), the ability to link with up to three DS's in an adventure and an lot of random treasure maps, this RPG is a huge craze over there. A localized version will be released on July 11.

Next, Metroid: Other M.

A return to 2D with FPS elements, it's pretty much Metroid with a new coat of paint.

Next, Retro Studios is working on a new Donkey Kong game. Yes, Donkey Kong Country is back. More specifically, it Returns.

Excellent.

Next: "3DS is on the way".

Satoru Iwata takes the stage and holds the new 3DS on his hand. The top screen is widescreen, and displays 3D without glasses.

There are a lot of cameras on the device. The cameras on the back are actually capable of taking 3D pictures: a nice touch. Also, Iwata reveals a new Slide Pad located above the d-pad. It will play some 3D movies from content providers like Disney, Warner Bros. and Dreamworks.

Next Iwata reveals Project Sora being worked on by Sakurai. What is it? It's Kid Icarus Uprising. Holy freaking crap.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

Wow. Talk about a great graphical upgrade for a handheld.

Another feature of note Iwata is introducing is a new way for games to communicate to your system. Basically, the old DS would have Nintendogs running, and under a Wi-Fi access point, another Nintendogs owner would be able to see you and wake your dog up, but the connection would stop when the cartridge was removed. Now, even without the cartridge, a 3DS can be communicated to. Does this mean that any software stored in the 3DS is finally separate from the hardware? Does this make the software downloaded from the DSi Store assigned to a user ID rather than an individual system? There are a lot of questions surrounding the specifics, but I hope Nintendo can sort all of those issues out.

Also, the launch lineup includes Nintendogs + Cats, as well as a lot of third-party titles from developers like Warner Bros., Atlus, Hudson, Marvelous, Ubisoft, SEGA, Harmonix, EA, Capcom, Bandai-Namco, Konami and more.

DJ Hero 3D, Professor Layton, Saint's Row, Madden NFL, Dynasty Warriors, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Batman, Assassin's Creed, Ridge Racer and here's a coup: METAL GEAR SOLID.

Bombshell, much?

A video about the Nintendo 3DS is shown.

I'm willing to bet that 5th Cell won't be leaving the DS any time soon.

In the end though, I'm so glad that Nintendo is going back and appealing once more to the hardcore. As Iwata said, "we've established the install base, now we want to make compelling games".

Another video is shown though featuring Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto and Reggie Fils-Aime this time.

So far, this is really the only 3D display technology I've felt compelled to buy. And I really like how Reggie Fils-Aime got burned.

Reggie summons his echelon of booth babes to demonstrate the power of 3DS. I really want to see how the "3D sensation" will work. "No more glasses" should be the way of the future, really. Sony and Microsoft are working on 3D gaming but they have glasses. Nintendo is a step ahead.

Sounds fanboyish, but it's not.

P.S.

Other notable 3DS launch titles: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is being remade, along with Star Fox. That's awesome.

E3: Nintendo Duds and Sony Rocks

Today saw gamers getting both hyped and disappointed, and that's because Nintendo and E3 finally revealed some stuff, but still hid others as well.

Anyway, let's start with Nintendo's first.

Living up to its casual gamer mantra, Nintendo has announced a huge pile of casual games to delight that audience.

#1 Wii Sports: Resort
Riding from the success of the pack-in title, Wii Sports, Nintendo is following it up with Wii Sports in a summer theme. I'm not exactly warming up to the game's concept as of now, and that's because it only adds Jet Skiing, Frisbee and Swordfighting. God, I hated swordfighting in Bleach. I don't know what's gonna make me like it now.

It also ships, however, with the new MotionPlus accessory for the Wiimote. I mean, the Wiimote itself is already motion sensitive, but the company states that this accessory will make the experience even more intuitive and life-like. Hmm...

#2 Wii Music
Remember that tech demo Shigeru Miyamoto demonstrated a long time ago when the Wii was getting released? Well, it's becoming reality.

Using the Wiimote and an extra pair of drums that come shipped with the title, Wii Music will help anyone do music without having to match the rhythm or beats and fail.

You can play the violin, saxophone and the drum using the Balance Board as well.

I don't see how the team at Nintendo will prolong the novelty of all this shallow gameplay, but it would be astonishing if it got at least a 7.0 on GameSpot.

Still, it looks pretty good at parties.


#3 Third party titles
Nerds get their Star Wars wish as Nintendo presented Star Wars: The Clone Wars featuring light saber duels and more. In my opinion, it's gonna suck.

Shaun White Snowboarding. It's old hat, but it looked really fun on the Wii Fit Balance Board.

Another game that's old hat is Rayman: Raving Rabbids TV Party, but it looks extremely funny especially with your butt controlling the Wii Fit balance board!

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is coming to the DS with its own engines and sandboxing as well.

And despite some bad critical reception for Guitar Hero: On Tour, it's getting a new installment called Decades.

And then, there's Call of Duty: World at War. This new CoD transports everyone back to World War II, but now, it's the Japanese you are fighting instead of Hitler's army. It features the flamethrower, and hopefully will also have the online capabilities of its next-gen brethren.

#4 The DS and the airport
A representative relates, "If you're like me, a person who spends way too much time on the airport, my time is almost always spent playing my DS. But what if the DS provided me with some great information like the nearest ATM or Mexican restaurant when I land? This is all being tested."

The title is called Cooking Navi or something like that, and I don't know how all of this will work.

#5 Animal Crossing: City Folk
It's the cutesy simulation title everyone loves: it's Animal Crossing!

OK, I'm not that much of a fan of these kinds of games except the Sims, but I have to tell you that the probability of this game being a system seller is high, especially since it will also be the first game to feature voice chat.

Yes, you read right: Voice chat.

Voice chat isn't as private as people would like, though, and that's because the voice chat accessory is made to look like a loudspeaker. Hmm..., I'd like to see how this will go.

Anyway, there are also new features in Animal Crossing: City Folk, most notably being able to take the game online, as well as sending messages to a friend's PC or cellphone. That's actually pretty cool.

Of course, this feature has been much requested, and I think the game will unveil even more surprises once it releases in the holiday of 2008.

#6 Vague Announcements That We're Keeping An Eye On
Nintendo is still not unsheathing its potentially huge collection of secret games that are being lined-up especially for hardcore fans. Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo said that the Mario and Zelda teams are on to something big, and Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed, also vaguely, both.

"We're still looking for unique ideas... and we even toyed with the idea of first-person Zelda.," says the legendary Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda creator.

Overall
Overall, there's not much in store for the Nintendo gamers out there, but I have a fuzzy feeling that this is just a spoonful of what's to come. Nintendo is definitely taking the mysterious-ness a little bit too far, but that's just gonna make fans crave for more.

And then there's


Sony doesn't disappoint compared to Nintendo, and that's because they unveil some really, really cool blockbusters.

#1 Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty
Ratchet and Clank return for a new adventure- a pirate adventure. But it's only available through the online PlayStation Network so yes, it's a downloadable.

#2 Resistance 2
One of the best launch games in the PS3 has come back! Will it surpass the first?

#3 God. of. War. III!
Yes, it's finally been announced! God of War III looks like a great epic mythological tour of one of the most famous modern game characters: Kratos. Sony teased everyone with a trailer, and that's about it.

In the end there will only be chaos.

#4 Little Big Planet
Once again, this little bubbly platformer impresses with its custom, user-friendly construction of levels and online sharing features, thus causing more excitement among the PS community. It ships in October.

#5 Resistance goes to PSP
For the first time, Resistance Retribution for the PSP gets shown. And it looks really nice!

#6 inFAMOUS
It looks really promising and it's about a guy named Cole who survives an explosion and gets some neat electric superpowers. The twist in this game is that you are free to do what you want, and it's either you ruin the fictional city of Empire or enrich its citizen's lives. It's all up to you.

#7 Gran Turismo TV
Basically, it's a feature found in existing game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue that enables you to watch licensed videos online. Top Gear has been announced to provide some content, as well as a Ferrari feature.

#8 PS3, even cheaper!
There's no word on what's gonna happen to the older 40GB model, but one thing's for certain: the 80GB model will have a huge price drop and will cost $399! Now that's a compelling reason.

#9 Games, even cheaper!
Warhawk, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Need for Speed Carbon, Resistance: Fall of Man get the Greatest Hits pasted on every cover, and that means they're cheaper.

#10 Don't forget: The PS2!
Sony says that 130 Titles are coming to the PS2 this year, and will include Lego Batman, and more family-friendly titles.

#11 PSP game sequels!
Patapon 2, Loco Roco 2 and Midnight Club LA are the newest titles announced. Cause for PSP owners' excitement? Hell yeah.

#12 DC Universe Online
This is basically an online game that features heroes from the DC universe, although you can also make your own.

#13 MAG
MAG is a title that will allow for whopping TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY SIX player battles! They will be divided into squads and will have different skills.

#14 Video Store
Like in iTunes, you can buy movies in the PlayStation Video Store!

As you can see, I was even more hyped up in the Sony conference than in the Nintendo conference, because almost everything they showed was really, really cool. Ironically, I don't even own a PSP or PS3!

Sony is so gonna have a good year. I guess FF13 is not gonna be the end of the world after all!

E3: Final Fantasy shockers!

Day 1: The Microsoft Keynote
Before I go to the really, really, really big shocker/s, let me clear these out first:
>Gears of War 2 gets a new trailer.
>Rock Band 2 gets AC/DC, thus causing rhythm fans to go baloney.
>The casual audience gets more games on the 360 Live Arcade platform, one of the most prominent being "I'm In The Movies!" which looks more like an Eye-Toy game for the PS2 by Codebreakers.
> Microsoft rips of Sony's SingStar karaoke series with their own "Lips".
> There's a new Halo game coming out called Halo Wars- and it may not have Master Chief!
> Resident Evil 5 gets co-op on our asses (although IMO, co-op will feel like SSBB's Subspace Emissary: it doesn't look like it's given much thought because the camera only focuses on the first player).
> Fallout 3 goes to 360 and not only PC.
> Mirror's Edge looks really sweet!
> Take a look at Spore: Will Wright's new simulation thingy.

BIG NEWS:
When you see Final Fantasy, what comes in your mind?

Cloud Strife, Tidus, Yuna, Squall, and oh, the PlayStation.


Now, it's all gonna change because the newest installment of the Final Fantasy series goes to the XBox 360.

Oooh, that's gotta hurt, Sony!

And then, come more rip-offs, courtesy of MS.

OK, they've revamped their famous dashboard, and it looks pretty nice. But look more into the first picture and what do you see?
A F**KING MII.

Thinking about it just sickens me, especially since the 360 was built almost primarily for the hardcore. And now they're going the way of the Wii? This is of course gonna be inducing some competition, but personally, when I mix the two terms XBox and avatars together, I get lost.

I mean, yeah, there seems to be a lot more Home-like options than that of the Wii, but still, this is just too derivative.

Tomorrow: NINTENDO!!!!
(Picture credit goes to my friend Hallway_Giant from the GameSpot community.)