E3 2010 Wrap Up — What Was E3 All About
Well E3 is over, and now that we have had a chance to sleep off our jet lag we are ready to tell you about the 50+ games we have played and the boat load of new tech we tried out.
This E3 seems as if it had its eyes set on time-travel. Every big new thing we tried was either going to shape the future of gaming, or was something awesome dredged up from gaming’s past. Microsoft and Sony were busy butting heads over their new motion-control peripheries, while Nintendo was busy showing that they can be just as hardcore as anyone else. At the same time, we were seeing revivals of some of the most awesome game franchises to ever hit the market, from recent ones like Okami, to old ones like Marvel VS. Capcom, to ancient ones like Kid Icarus.
3-D was the big draw this year at E3, and Nintendo and Sony both had their offerings. Sony decided to take advantage of 3-D TV’s now on the market by releasing a firmware update that allows the PS3 itself to become 3-D capable. Of course this means that you need to be sitting in front of your TV with 3-D glasses, and that tends to feel a bit gimmicky. When I tried out Sony’s new Move-based fighting game entitled The Fight in 3-D, I found the image more often than not split apart, and instead of getting a full 3-D experience I ended up with a graphical glitch more reminiscent of the N64 era.
On the other end of the spectrum we have Nintendo with its 3DS, a handheld that is coming out … well at the very least before the next E3. The big draw to the 3DS is its high definition 3-D widescreen, no glasses required. The 3-D effect manages to follow you even if you are looking at the screen off-center, and I managed to see some 3-D images even when looking over the shoulders of others. When I asked a Nintendo rep in the booth about how the 3DS works, he replied, “would you believe fairy magic?”. On a more serious note, he told me that the technology comes from Sharp, but that you don’t have to actually have a knowledge of the technology to develop for it. There are a couple variables that control how 3-D an image is, and as long as you have a tight grasp on those you can make a 3-D game.
The game lineup was awesome, and I’ll say more about each individual game in my coming articles, but this E3 certainly had something for everyone. I don’t mean “something for everyone” in that drowned out advertisement pitch way, I mean literally there was a thing that just about everyone could enjoy. If you weren’t a gamer before, this E3 tried its hardest to turn you into one. Whether you wanted to get down on the dance floor with Dance Central, fight your evil exes in Scott Pilgrim, join the massively long tournament line for Marvel VS Capcom 3, or just sit and watch the pretty visuals at the Square-Enix booth, this year’s E3 made sure to provide you with something you were going to enjoy. That says a lot about this coming year in gaming. Perhaps Kevin Butler’s speech at the Sony Press Conference about gamers of all types coming together as one big gaming family is valid after all.
Of the big three companies, Nintendo easily stole the show. They announced nearly every game that people have been hoping for. Along with definites like Metroid: Other M, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, we were introduced to a Goldeneye, Kirby, Donkey Kong Country, Golden Sun, and even a 3DS remake of Star Fox. On the more casual end, Nintendo showcased Mario Sports Mix and Wii Party, both of which looked like a blast. The 3DS showed us a new Zelda, Resident Evil, Paper Mario, and of course Kid Icarus. It was like a bizarre Christmas where I became excited about spending money on presents for myself.
Sony’s performance was, well, less stellar. Their big points were 3-D gaming and the Move. I tried both and wasn’t really impressed with either. The only 3-D title that implemented 3-D well was Killzone 3, and in all actuality, first person shooters stand to really benefit from the feeling of depth stereoscopic imaging gives you. As for the Move, it was very hit or miss. Some games implement Move technology wonderfully, like Heavy Rain, while others feel clunky at best, like The Fight. The casual games all used The Move to the best of its abilities, and titles like EyePet or Move Party really showed what the periphery can do. Unfortunately, these are all casual titles and while they certainly will appeal to the common American nuclear family, they didn’t appeal to me. The Move integration with Little Big Planet 2 was pretty cool though. Outside of the new tech, Sony had some great offerings such as the new Twisted Metal, Valkyria Chronicles II, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and much more, but they all took a backseat to Sony’s shiny new toys.
Microsoft had an interesting show. There weren’t a whole lot of exclusives to show, but the ones that were present were kind of awesome. Halo: Reach and Gears of War 3 were about as awesome as you would assume they would be, so no worries there. The biggest problem was that Microsoft only showed about four hardcore titles at their press conferences before moving on to Kinect, and Kinect was casual out the ass. Now, even though it was casual I was really impressed with the Kinect. It was accurate as hell and totally fun. Getting up on stage and dancing to Poker Face has never been a bigger guilty pleasure, but it just don’t seem to offer much for the core gamer. In the end, Microsoft is going to siphon a lot of their success this year out of third party developers and their new Xbox 360 slim which, admittedly, was pretty damn sexy.
Who is winning the gamer wars? Well, Nintendo, but that’s not the point. The point is, each company is trying harder than ever to put their best foot forward in this coming gaming season. For the first time that I can remember, E3 has showcased multiple blockbuster games for every console. I can honestly say the lineup of hit games for each console is too big for me to get every game I want without breaking the bank. So I guess that is what E3 was all about this year, making us all poor through truly awesome video game releases. Well, I couldn’t think of a better way to end up in the poorhouse than retro gaming time travel.
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