E3 in a nutshell (Give your thoughts!)

[Acert93]

Lots of show, very little game. Sony had the best presentation, MS too much hip hop but they did show some real games, and Nintendo is still in this gen (but some good stuff... GB Micro, NES/SNES/N64 back library, etc). Here are some random thoughts on each... feel free to give your own.

Sony
-PS3 is a monster
-Very professional show. Sony knows how to put together a show to excite... weed out the crap and just get people excited.
-Some of the CELL demos were nice (sat pics w/ height maps was neat). Why MS did not do this I have no clue
-What the heck??! The controller makes my hands cramp from here
-Uhhh ok, lets see the games not the CGIs. Oh, next years E3, ok
-Nice black design, but really nothing great for my tastes
-Hmmm all those people knocking people for making comments about CELL (this is not the PS3 CELL blah blah) were right: The PS3 CELL is even less. Still impressive, but 115GFLOPs + 3 PPC cores vs 218GFLOPs + 1PPC seems less lopsided and surely not the "3x or more powerful" that the EGM rumor people kept quoting.
-Still waiting for hard specs on the RSX to see how it really compares to the R500. Basically looks like 2.5x NV40.
-So, how is the system going to do 128bit HDR like effects, AA, gobs of polys at 1080p like those videos?
-Uhhh So when do we get it in the US?
-Better question, how much will this thing cost
-Looks like GREAT game support and some nice exclusives

MS
-UGH! Another MTV like show
-Well, they did show some nice games... and some stinkers. Too be expected... but why not more actual gameplay???
-Where were the tech Demos??
-Need more info, but UT2007 and Gears of War, same engine for each and some of the most impressive stuff I saw on either, looked the same for the most part. Looks like the Xbox is in the same league even if less powerful (which is a given in the CPU floating point power)
-Did I mention the MTV like presence really underwhelmed?
-MS has some killer games coming (GoW, GR3, PGR3, NFS, Elder Scrolls, NBA 2K6, Madden) so why did they just not show the great looking stuff and impress us all? Someone at MS last a screw!
-6 EA launch titles and 25 games in the works. MS will do well in the US.
-40 launch titles in the launch window. IMPRESSIVE. Again, why did they not show more of the games?

Nintendo
-Reggie can talk He has a great stage presence
-Iwata was funny
-GB Micro! Nice... can it play MP3s?
-Rev: BC, WiFi, and you can DL ($) NES, SNES, and N64 games (I say give all 1st party away for free and they will make a killing in install base)
-Not much Rev, as expected.
-Nicest next gen console design IMO
-Sounded like a conference call...
-Not many GCN games shown, looks like this year will be slow again
-Zelda was great, probably will be the game of E3. PS3 wont be playable I assume and I assume MS will only have PDZ and maybe a few small things for Xbox 360. So it will be a Conker vs. Zelda show for consoles.
-Very light E3 show from Nintendo. Not much next gen as expected, a few nice surprises.
-Some people will call it damage control, others will point out that Rev is not shipping for 18mo in the US--i.e. next E3 is where they plan to show more. I side with the later. PS3 was damage control for Xbox 360 (which was effective).
-Supposedly a lot more 3rd party support but where? Who?


It is about the games... and none of them really showed us much games In that regards I give all 3 scores of F-.

They all claim to broaden the market... I only saw MS and Nintendo do this with what they said. MS is going to offer retro gaming and card games over live (YES... been saying they should do that forever). Nintendo is going to open up their back library.

In presentation Sony won. But in reality, who has the best games we have no clue at this point. We have no real guage on the power of the RSX in game at this point. MS looks to have a lot of game support at this point, so if they can provide stuff on par in looks (or close) and have a lot more games come PS3 launch it will be interesting. Still expect Sony to win this race... but their console does not look cheap. Note my previous post about a price war... MS looks primed to do that. PS3 is going to be more expensive than I imagined to make. Ouch.

But it will have awesome games soooo who cares if Sony loses cash giving us our mini super computers


Fell free to give your own nutshell.

 

[jvd]

Microsoft


Good ideas about online play . I like the set up , i like have you can access stuff as your playing a game , i like getting invites and what not . Looks cool. I wont really use the music feature or the video download feature. But i'm sure someone will

The games all look good and there was enough real time demos to get a feel for what to expect .


Sony

Good specs but once again they are telling tall tales . There is no way i believe the 1.8 tflop number for the gpu. It looks like they saw the cell chip will be twice the gflops of the xcpu and decided to stick with that through out the run . The system is impressive but in the end i doubt we will see much diffrence between the two .

Once again they showed alot of cgi videos and tried to pass them off as real time (Which the media sites are eating up )


Nintendo

I like the idea of getting the old games. I like the size of the system but from the rumors it may be under speced . Which isn't the end of the world but i would have liked more power and a zelda on the graphical level of eldar scrolls .



As for games . Man deano that is some sick stuff on your trailer and I hope you acomplish your goal of having the ps3 pull that off

With that said the most impressive game for me was eldar scrolls .

 

[ninelven]

MS:
Has their #@$^ together.
Nice controller.
Nice Live service.
Nice HDD.
Nice design.
A tiny bit (my perception) underpowered for my taste.
Nice developer support.
Overall, they seem to know where they want to go, and look to be doing a good job of getting there.

Sony:
Lofty goals, but not as coherent or advanced (timeline wise) as MS
Nice design.
Slightly more impressive visuals (and I expect ps3 will become the IQ standard - imho).
Strange controller design though it could be functional - needs reworking.
BD is a nice plus. Even if it isn't adopted that is alot of space for game content.

Nintendo:
It looked nice.
What else was there?
I just don't care anymore.

 

[Geeforcer]

Xbox 360 - GUI/Live interface looked great.

PS3 - I couldn't help it, but the following mental image circulating though my head:


Someone at Sony, summer 2004: "Graphic Synthesizer 2, that's the answer!"

Someone at Sony, 8 months later (winter 04-05): "Wait, it's not the answer. It's not even the question. OMG, OMG, OMG, what are we going to do????"

Someone at Sony, 5 minutes later: "Hello, is this Nvidia? Give us your best GPU, now!"

 

[Mortimer]

What I disliked about the Sony presentation was all the talk about specs and numbers for the first half an hour and comparing them to other machines (especially to xbox360), made them look like they are afraid of Microsoft (which they should be).
And I wasn't really convinced that "full 100% real time renderware" Fight Night was real time. Just holding a controller while showing the exact same moves from a few different angles isn't what I'd expect from a real time demonstration.
The specs are nice, but I'll wait until I see REAL playable games to decide if there's any real difference between PS3 and Xbox360 visuals.

 

[Geeforcer]

BTW, did anyone notice that PZ0 was not shown and barely eve mentioned?

 

[jvd]

BTW, did anyone notice that PZ0 was not shown and barely eve mentioned?

teh rumor floating around is an enhanced version with the new textures will be playable on the e3 floor for the last day .

 

[pc999]

MS

I really liked from what they are bringing to us, live, GAMES, user content,....

But after PS3 I would lik that they give us 2X the power.(probably it dont need , but the fanboy inside me wants)

Sony

Specs and Footage
Are they real (footage) :? afraid not

Great physics in the games

I loved the Eye(thing) game.

To bad they dont tell us more things (e.g. net wise...)

Nintedo

Very low power
...There is nothing more to say...

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Graphics win over gameplay and sell expensive stuff. Truly the age of HD, but what about the games themselves?

At least it looks like I won't have job problems for a while though.

 

[Riddlewire]

Microsoft: Wrong Direction. Needs less 'Hipness', more gaming goodness.
Also too late. They should've made a full presentation at GDC when they would've had the stage to themselves and a couple of months for people to be drooling over their stuff. Now they just look like weak stepsisters. The R500 is one huge question mark as far as I'm concerned.

Nintendo: Didn't see their presentation. But their machine looks the best. Clean, simple, uncluttered. Good job, Nintendo.

Sony: Masters of hype. Nobody plays this game better than Sony. They already have people believing that the PS3 will be able to create 100% photorealism in its games. Sony understands that perception is reality. And now, the reality (in the minds of most gamers) is that the PS3 is hundreds of times more powerful than Earth Simulator. A lot of complaints about the shape of the console, but I like it. The controller, however, is a universally agreed upon nightmare. Fire that designer, Sony.
***********

I was actually quite disappointed in the games. Lots of sequels and licensed properties. The few games that were new and original properties were in well-established genres and looked like just more of the same. Last gen did much better with esoteria and originality at launch. Remember Circus Maximus? Where are the Chariot Racers this gen?

 

[Qroach]

JVD where did you get that rumor?

 

[jvd]

JVD where did you get that rumor?

From a friend thats attending the show . Member of the press .

Dunno if its true but she is telling me so. Though she is excited about the mmorpgs on the pc .

 

[gmoran]

MS: their vision for the hardware; the way the physical design integrates so well into the media service, live service; the user interface - all top marks. Their games and demos - looked top end PC.

Sony: the hardware looked OK; loads of great features, but not so well thought out, less cogesive, more money. Joypads - hideous, and they look uncomfortable. Games - jaw dropping, looked next gen.

Of course Sony's good stuff was solely pre-rendered? Well first off I don't think it was, although it patently wasn't real time in game - but neither was most of MS's stuff. Sony showed us what next gen will look like, MS didn't - so why so many are crying for MS and decrying Sony is a mystery to me. MS Own goal as far as I'm concerned, and Sony win this round by a huge margin.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I've been loath to admit it before, but it seems like there are real serious problems at Rare. PDZ is just not nearly as ready as it should be after all this time.

As for the conferences:

Sony won the PR war, but failed to show more impressive hardware than MS. MS demonstrated a focused online strategy and stuck to the truth a lot more than Sony did with their crazy CGI demos and claims of 1080p (totally impractical with no eDRAM to help out).

Nintendo retreated into their niche. They'll still be around next generation, but they've pretty much bowed out of the mass market.

 

[fallguy]

Is it even over yet?

 

[jvd]

Is it even over yet?

not at all but all the big info is out already

 

[Guden Oden]

PS3:
Looks the bees' knees IMO. 9 1/2 out of 10, at least in black and nearly as good in white. Silver... Naah. Looks a bit cheap in the pics, but maybe better in reality. Horrible controller, and will wait to pass any judgement on games and demos until the thing's actually close to being launched. With unfinished hardware it's inevitable stuff will be prerendered and other stuff which isn't won't look top-notch. Not sure what Sony will use all those damn ports for on the console, so will have to wait more to say how well their online service etc might work.

X360:
Looks more like a traditional console than PS3, which has totally turned into a piece of high-end hifi equipment. Looks: 7 out of 10. This verdict includes controller by the way, which while not exactly pretty looks saner than the one for PS3. The circle button looks exciting as well, and having instant access to the online interface and console dashboard from inside every game is an excellent idea. Good innovation there. I fear I will have to give my moneys to the dark lord of Redmond, because X360 looks and feels something like 36x better than the original box. And that's before I've even had a chance to touch it! Too bad tho the A/V and USB sockets are located at the TOP of the unit when it stands up, that's going to look very ugly with the cables hanging off the back of it like that. Hope they fix that detail before production commences.

Nintendo:
Haven't the least fucking clue what they're doing this time 'round. I fear that if rumors are true that Rev is only 2-4x more powerful than GC, then that's it for nintendo. They'll end up getting born stillborn next time 'round, PS3 and X360 will just come roll right over and crush 'em. They have lots of money, just won't spend any of it it seems. Dumb strategy if you ask me.

 

[London Geezer]

My take?

Sony and MS bitchslapping each other, one being more efficient than the other. It's all in the technique. Bitchslapping needs lots of experience.

The HDR on the Sony videos (whether pre-rendered or realtime) made them looked much more "real" than most of the X360 ones. I realised this while watching some of the X360 videos, and they looked kinda flat, and all because of how striking the HDR on the Sony videos was. I never thought it would make such a difference but it does.

What leaves me puzzled is that the X360 is capable of a lot of the same stuff, especially HDR, but no mention was made of it, nothing is known about how powerful this monster really is. Sony made it very clear that the PS3 is a monster. X360 is a monster too, so why not brag about it, MS?

Nintendo will be by far the most profitable. I mean, charging people again to play the games they stopped making a profit 10 years ago? That's just pure class.
Funny thing is that it's all glossed over to make them look like the "good guys" when really, making a profit out of their old material cause they can't be bothered to come up with new hardware and frenchises is pure evil. Millions will pay the tiny "microtransaction" to play the first NES Mario on Rev, and they'll start making profits out of the old soup. New pokemon? 4 new Mario games? to be honest i stopped caring a long time ago.
It's all about the games, sure, but this is being cheap. Sorry that's the feeling i got from Nintendo, from the Gameboy Micro (yet another platform to play their OLD GBA games), to the "Download 20 years worth of software". How about NEW software. They're supposed to be the heroes of originality and whatever the fanboys call them, but PS3 and X360 are both taking the leap forward, while Nintendo are still stuck where they've been in the last 10 years.

I'll be flamed to death for writing this, but hey what can i do it's just the gut feeling i got from the conferences.

 

[Acert93]

Good comments L-B.

I saw the NES-SNES-N64 move as two fold:

1. Most gamers do not have access to the classics, so it is viable (especially if cost effective). I do not see it as evil, but reselling games people either never played OR no longer have access to. My NES died many years ago, so this gives me an outlet to play the original Zelda again. If they can clear up the N64 filtering I may even give some of my old games a spin (Golden Eye, PD, Mario Kart, ZOoT).

2. It gives them a strong anti-piracy case. Nintendo is very active in this regards because people are making and selling old Nin software. If Nintendo can show they are losing money (see #1) then they have the leverage to really nail these crooks.

3. This could be the first steps of a Nintendo "Steam" like service. Test it out with smaller games, then do it with expansions not worthy of retail but diehards will want, and then offer it as an alternative to retail.

Nintendo would stand to make an uber killing by offering games online. They get to cut out all the middle men, so the $20 markup on software would be extra profits for them. While it is not viable as an only route, it could mean higher profits.

 

[Geeforcer]

My observation: Nintendo has always been regarded as targeting younger players, but the only library is clearly aimed at the older generation: I have trouble seeing 13-16 olds getting excited about Donkey Kong Country or Mario 64 in the middle of 2006.