However, since I've played absolutely nothing in a couple weeks, I'm going to talk about E3 instead.
Let's start with Microsoft. The Xbox 360 had a pretty solid showing at E3. MS showed some Kinect support though there is still a pretty severe lack of any type of serious gaming for their hands free motion controller. I bought one pretty soon after it came out and am pretty much done with Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures, and Dance Central. They did show Dance Central 2, which looks pretty fun, but nothing blew me away for the Kinect and that disappoints me. I was hoping 2011 would be the year of the Kinect and it doesn't look that way. They did show some Kinect compatibility for games like Fable and some EA sports games but it is mostly just added features. It concerns me greatly that Microsoft doesn't know how to apply their motion controller to more serious gaming applications but we'll see. Maybe 2012 will be the year of the Kinect (I doubt it). Strongly considering selling mine at this point.
Halo fans can rejoice as Microsoft and 363 Studios promised not one, not two, but three new Halo games for the future. They showed off some footage of Halo 4 and also announced a remake of the original with improved graphics and online play.
Some solid demos of Gears 3, the new Tomb Raider game (which I'm absolutely pumped for) and of course Modern Warfare 3(which I'm not). They also showed a new emphasis on home entertainment announcing live TV and streaming music all controllable via Kinect with voice and hand communication. Nothing extremely exciting but it all looks pretty good.
Sony surprised me and a lot of other people when it announced the price point for it's new do-everything handheld. They also gave it an official name...the Vita! And it won't cost $599 US Dollars! It's only going to cost $249 which suddenly thrusts out of disinterested and into very interested. I never owned a PSP because Sony refused to lower the price of their original handheld for ages. The Vita is going to be a lot more then the PSP though. They finally have dual analog sticks to go along with a multi-touch display. It has a bunch of stuff I don't particularly care about like front and rear cameras, a 3G option for another $50, and a bunch of other stuff I'll never use. It also has some kickass specs under the hood and they showed some great demos of games like Modnation Racers and LittleBigPlanet. Color me excited(I always say it is hot pink). Sony also showed off the game I'm most excited for this holiday season, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and it looks ridiculous as expected. Nothing else particularly stood out for Sony. The Vita is the big announcement and it looks pretty promising. It's slated for a holiday 2011 release right now.
Nintendo just wrapped up their conference and the big announcement was, of course, the predecessor to the Wii. It has a name now, the WII U! and a controller, a gigantic 6"+ touchscreen monstrosity, and a stable of future games. Nintendo finally catches up with Sony and Microsoft and leaps into the HD era (about 6 years too late) planning to release the Wii U sometime in 2012. Apparently all the old Wii accessories will still work on it, but it is going to be powerful enough to run games like Batman: Arkham City, Dirt, Ninja Gaiden 3, etc...all of which will have been playable on 360 or PS3 for months before the Wii U is released. Probably the coolest feature is the ability to play the console on the controller's touch screen. So if your wife wants to watch Army Wives and you want to play whatever first party Nintendo game is out at the time, you can both be happy! The controller has a camera too because every electronic device released after the Geneva Convention is required by international law to have a camera on it.
Outside of that Nintendo showed off the new Zelda and blah, blah, blah. The Wii U is really all of the news for Nintendo. It's looks intriguing as all hell. I'm very interested in how much this 6.2" touchscreen controller that can stream games is going to cost.
Overall, it's been a pretty decent E3. Two new consoles unveiled and some really good looking games. Oh, I almost forgot to talk about Battlefield 3 which looks to seriously unseat Modern Warfare as the king of first person war shooters with online action and tanks. Seriously though, it looks amazing. I've never been a big Battlefield guy, spending my time instead with Modern Warfare but Battlefield 3 has converted me like hall of famer Rod Carew to Judaism. The new "Frostbite" engine looks amazing, and they stressed relentlessly about how it will be "subscription free".
E3 is always an exciting time and this year has been no different. Exciting new games, new consoles, new ip's and old ip's, remakes, collections, etc...it all adds up to another expensive holiday season and a promising 2012 for gamers everywhere.
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