One thing I really love about my job is that I'm not only allowed to have the big E3 press conferences streaming while I'm working, but my boss asks for the URL I'm using so he can watch, too. For those who don't know, E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is the time every year that the game industry shows off what is coming up to customers around the world. Each of the three big companies (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) has a press conference where they not only announce games, but also the upcoming technology they are making that we should be excited about.
For Microsoft, this year's only really new thing (the rest were all sequels of their exclusive IPs and Assassin's Creed 3) was Microsoft Glass. Microsoft Glass is an attempt to connect all of your gadgets together so that while watching a movie, you can see the cast automatically on your phone or tablet or to easily switch what media you're enjoying on your phone or tablet on to your Xbox. The only interesting thing I can see is if doing something on your phone/tablet affects something in your game (like what Mass Effect 3 had with its iPhone app to improve Galactic Readiness), but I'd rather have a machine built for that specific purpose (see the Wii U below). Not to mention I don't have a smartphone or tablet, so really I'm just not the target for this thing anyway, but it does give me more potential incentive to pick up a Kindle Fire at some point.
For Sony, the only thing they showed that I cared at all about was their version of Smash Brothers with Sony characters (oh and they showed Assassin's Creed 3). Basically you take Sony exclusive characters (Kratos, Ratchet and Clank, Sweet Tooth, Cole McGrath, etc.), which I am happy to see they have a good amount of, have up to four players fight each other as them building up charge bars, and unleash super attacks once the charge bars are full that kill the other players. My initial reaction is that that system seems a little too simple, but I guess I'll just keep my eye on it for now.
For Nintendo, they focused heavily on the Wii U and made me excited I own a 3DS (and they also showed Assassin's Creed 3). The Wii U is coming out sometime Holiday 2012. I'm still not excited enough to be a day one buyer of it, but there is so much potential in the Wii U that I can't help but get excited. Essentially, the Wii U's big thing is its controller, the WiiPad. It's a large controller with a touch screen in the middle that can either display extra information to the player that doesn't get displayed on the TV or can get sent the audio/video meant for the TV in case someone else is using it. This is exciting not only because of the asymmetric gameplay that secret information leads to with the former, but it means I can have Netflix or something else on my TV while playing a Wii U game. I know it's probably terrible for my attention span, but I do love to multi-task. :)
I understand that it's important for the console developers to show they have third party support (especially for Nintendo), but when all three conferences show us the same game, it's not at all special or unique, so why waste time doing it? Especially when Ubisoft (makers of Assassin's Creed 3) had their own press conference where they (you guessed it) showed off Assassin's Creed 3. It seems to me, the press conferences should be about showing customers what is unique and special about that particular company, not about showing off what everyone else has as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment