So I guess I can no longer bitch about not being at E3 this year. As I’ve mentioned before, I haven’t been feeling so hot as of late, due to a mixture of allergies and/or a cold, and this weekend was the worst. My scheduled appearance at the IGDA NJ chapter meeting where I dissected the Atari/Parsons 24 hour game jam went off without a hitch, but I became quite sick shortly afterwards. And I would continue to feel weak and ill up until yesterday, forcing me to cancel out of my Stony Brook game judging engagement.
Also this weekend, I finally got an Xbox. I came across one at a Target near the shore while MK & I were looking at tvs and I figured, what the fuck, might as well save myself some potential aggravation. I knew there was a chance that the 360 might support backwards compatibility, but I didn’t want to take any chances, nor look forward to buying a used one, or a new one on eBay and let it get destroyed in shipment. And now it seems that I made the right choice…
So E3 is in full effect. Even though it technically begins today, there have been breaking news since the weekend, which has made catching up, and keeping abreast of the latest word, a real nightmare (almost any game related site is running super slow). I’m not IGN, so I’m not going to mention or talk about everything. In fact, I had planned on not saying anything related to games till after the show. But while on the topic anyway, just a few things…
- Yeah, so the Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible. But, only for a select few titles. Jesus Christ that is lame. So only a few games, of Microsoft’s choosing, will be playable on the new system. That’s almost worse than no bc at all.
It apparently all has to do with the systems’ chipsets coming from two separate manufacturers, so the emulation will be tricky. Microsoft claims that it’s goal is to have every single Xbox 1 game playable, but seriously, who believes that MS would go through such trouble? And if it does happen, everyone will have to pay for the ability via annoying micropayments, since MS has such a hard-on for them. That and those stupid customizable faceplates.
- A bit of follow-up to the DOA4/PD0 screenshot fiasco: shortly after the screens from both of those games were posted, MS asked all parties to take them down. Also, MS is now claiming… and I might be wrong on all of this, but… the version of Perfect Dark that was shown on MTV, and which was the basis of the screenshots that 1UP posted immediately afterwards (which would later spawn “Wall Guy” jokes and other assorted bits of embarrassing fodder) was a super early build which was only displayed to show off the multiplayer aspects. A much better looking shotsof Joanna Dark (the main character) was then found floating around the net, but no one could figure out if it was official or not. And just today, the game has unofficially been put on hold indefinitely, and yet another redesign of the character has been released to the public.
You know, it really says something when a company decides to take a 20% version of their flagship title for a system that’s coming out at the end of the year and putting it on MTV without thinking of the consequences.
Meanwhile, Sony just unveiled the PlayStation 3. Here’s a pic for those who have yet to see it…
… When I first saw it, I went “Good God, that is horrible” and then turned around and saw my PS2. Now, I don’t think it looks too bad, though I’m already looking forward to the PSthree.
But the controller is fucking ridiculous…
… I mean, it looks just like those crappy third party controllers that you see cluttering the discount bins at Gamestops and EBs. But more importantly, it looks uncomfortable as hell.
- As for the games, you can find a few teaser pics of Tekken 6, Devil May Cry 4, and Warhawk 2 (okay, that’s one sequel I don’t mind seeing) and even a few vids of Killzone 2 and Motor Storm, floating around. Remember what I said before about how this upcoming generation’s advances in graphics may only go so far? Well, if what’s been shown is indeed real time, then I’m obviously wrong, though the final word is still not in. The graphics seen in the Final Fantasy VII demo (the opening FMV sequence of the game was recreated via an in-game engine on the PS3) was not as impressive, but at least seemed more believable.
But pleasing to eye some of it might be, I’m more worried than ever that there will be too much emphasis on the graphics. I just feel bad for any middle of the road developer who will have to compete with such photorealistic graphics, which comes at a price, both in terms of technology and manpower. I could give a rat’s ass about realism, and find much if it creepy (mostly in what EA is offering up, such as that Marlon Brando screenshot from the Godfather game which most have probably seen), though its was what people want, and they’re gonna get it, for better or worse…
- Then you have Mario & company. Their press conference was not too long ago, and many (including myself) was dying to see what Nintendo had in store, especially since they’ve been so quiet as of late. And guess what? They had almost nothing.
There was quite a few DS related stuff demoed and discussed (much to the chagrin of many), and some new GameCube announcements (there was a new Zelda trailer and it looks pretty decent, though what I really want is Mario 128), but the Revolution was woefully absent. You can see what it looks like here, and as you can tell, it looks pretty plain jane boring (though everyone else seems to love it since it doesn’t look “kiddie”). And I really love how every fucking console now has to stand on its side. Plus, the controller was not revealed; guess Nintendo is holding off till Spaceworld, a show they themselves throw at the end of each year.
It was announced that it would have built in wifi, with an online Smash Bros game at launch, which I guess is cool. Plus you’ll be able to download NES, SNES, and N64 games for the system (oh boy, I’ll get to pay for Super Mario Bros 1 for the sixth time!), but otherwise, virtually nothing else was disclosed, which resulted in one of the most disappointing showings for Nintendo ever at a E3. As many have said already, it was as if they just weren’t ready to show anything, and perhaps would have chosen not to at all, if not for all the pressure to do so in the light of MS and Sony.
- Nintendo also unveiled the Game Boy Micro, yet another iteration of the GBA, just in a much smaller casing, plus with backlighting…
Looks neat I guess, but at this point, Nintendo really needs to spend all of its energies on either new games or new systems, not milking the GBA for the umpteenth time (especially when there’s hardly any GBA games coming out).
- The next Sonic collection on the GameCube, Sonic Gems, will have Sonic CD and Sonic The Fighter. And about goddamn time too.
- Along the lines of the Darkstalker collection for the PSP is one for Street Fighter Alpha. I know most would prefer Third Strike, but Alpha is a better choice I feel since its more arcade-y (if you catch my drift) and requires less precise controls.
- Mizuguchi’s new game for the 360 is called Ninety-Nine Nights. Its a historical war simulation and somewhat resembles a few of Koei’s offerings, just with an insane amount of soldiers on screen. Not was I was expecting, but I’m still interested…
- I’ll be going over all the games that I think deserve attention after the show, but I just wanted to mention one last game: Odama, the war simulation/pinball game is still alive. And thank God for that.
- I know that I’m beating a dead horse when it comes to bitching about the 360 media blitz, I just wanted to point out once more that with all the sound and fury it managed to produced, how it still pales in comparison to Sony’s PS3 billboards and bus ads in terms of the amount of interest generated, as well as just being very classy and really nice.
- This year’s E3 marks the 10th anniversary for the event, which is why I guess this years seems to disappointing in comparison. The world of video games was just so much more exciting back then, with the transition from 16 bits and cartridges to 32 bits and CD-ROM. Plus, history was made on day one when Sega revealed that their next-gen system, the Saturn, was available in stores across the country that very moment.
For those who are interested, you can take a stroll down memory lane via here.
- One last bit of Xbox related item: check out this article that’s all about the design process that went into the system.
- Remember the supercomputer made out of hundreds of G5s? Well here’s the same thing, but with PS2s.
- Finally, here’s a Zelda: Ocarina of Time mod for Halo.
- Oh, one final word about E3, before the end of the show: its easily the high-point for any video game fan, and despite any massive disappointments that the show may offer (such as the revelations from today and the past few days), there’s certain to be a good deal of the opposite, and even a few totally awesome surprises, which is what I always look forward to. It’s a bit ridiculous to get too wrapped up in anything, especially video games I suppose, but its only natural if you care about anything.
And at the end of the day, this quote from the insert credit forums really puts things in perspective the best:
for all the negativity in this thread, it is a matter of fact that Xbox 2 will have at least 5 and maybe even 10 or 20 killer games during its lifetime
which basically means that anyone who loves games will buy one at some point in their lives
