Game Stooge

FEATURE: Grading the E3 Conferences

• Scribbled on July 15th, 2008 by Jonah Falcon
• Filed in E3, Features, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3

As promised, it’s time to grade each of the conferences by Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. There have been other conferences, such as Electronic Arts’, but we’ll stick with these three.

Microsoft - watch the conference here.

Microsoft was cruising along, doing the usual press conference standards: using numbers to brag about sales, using their own spin to augment their success (in their case, the software sales and attach rate, number of Live users, and so forth.) They introduced their expected titles, such as Lips, and showed off gameplay from others, like Gears of War 2 and Fable 2. The Netflix announcement was a pleasant surprise. There was basically a moderate level of excitement.

Until the end, when Microsoft threw their haymaker: Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360, which elicited gasps and cheers when the logo appeared, followed by the 360 bumper. It created shockwaves throughout the video game world, even causing online petitions and angry nerd rants.

On the negative side, there was no Alan Wake - does this game exist anymore? - and no Halo stuff; however, tomorrow Bungie makes it revelations, so Microsoft may have a plan to recapture the spotlight by allowing Bungie to make its announcement tomorrow.

Grade: A+

Click “Read more…” for Nintendo and Sony.

Nintendo - watch the conference here.

…(sigh) Nintendo is drifting further and further into Twinkie-hood.

Yes, it’s nice they’re continuing to support the balance board. Spore Creatures, Animal Crossing for the Wii, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars are all hot titles, especially the latter, which will make DS fanboys wet their pants.

But honestly, the Nintendo conference was mostly joyless and held no promises. There’s still no solutions to the lack of a real storage device for the Wii, which hampers WiiWare and other titles. They didn’t even have any Zelda or Mario games for the Wii. Some of the original titles were yawn-inducing. Wii Music? Wii Sports Resort? Are they serious? Are they actually bragging about a rhythm game which you don’t even need rhythm for? Are non-games the future of the Wii? And where the heck is the big third-party support, Spore Creatures notwithstanding?

Grade: D

Sony - watch the Sony conference here.

Sony’s conference was all about two things: price slashing and bundles featuring Blu-Ray discs. Some of the bundles are extremely important, especially getting an 80 gig PlayStation 3 for a consumer friendly $399.99. Price was, and still is, one of the biggest obstacles.

But their direction still seems misguided. Offering yet another PlayStation 2 bundle - do us all a favor, Sony, let the PS2 die. Offering a Blu-Ray disc with it sends a mixed message as well.

And all the PS3’s being bought as a cheap Blu-Ray player won’t solve the problem of low software attach rate. There’s a reason Devil May Cry 4 and Final Fantasy XIII lost their exclusivity, and Grand Theft Auto 4 wasn’t a timed exclusive. Sony’s been so intent on putting Blu-Ray in the consumer’s face, they’ve let third party developers escape them, especially when the initial $600 price tag scared video game buyers away. The “big” announcement was a first-party title, God of War III, which wasn’t met with any sort of shock because it wasn’t exactly a secret if you bought a PS3 title in the past year.

That said, Sony didn’t show off any giant crabs, real-time weapon swapping or aiming for weak spots to massive damage. A $400 PS3 will be very welcome come the holiday season - but what if Metal Gear Solid 4 is announced as a 360 title by then?

Grade: B

What did you think of the conferences? Let us know.