Things may have changed in terms of E3’s layout and its girth but one thing is clearly still the same; E3 is still the place for those in business of entertaining us, the platform holders especially, to puff out their chests a little in order to garner some of the world’s wandering attention. We’ve all seen the games, the new toys and some of the grand concepts that the industry has in store for our futures, so it’s now time to discuss our thoughts, make some analyses and pass some judgements.
So which platform had the best showing? What excited us the most and what was it that broke our tender gaming hearts the worst? Did we notice anything that gave us reason pause and ponder the state of the industry? And what do we all think of the new smaller E3?
Chris-Leigh - PALGN Executive Editor
New E3, heaps of new problems.
The downscaled nature of this year's event clearly didn't win it many friends in the development or publishing world. The big three press conferences were littered with mundane announcements, and numerous developers and publishers held back on showcasing big titles - a Sega representative brazenly admitted to us that the company was saving two "massive" titles for the Leipzig-based Games Convention in August; would that have happened at any other E3? The future of the ESA's new baby looks worryingly shaky.
As far as highlights go, Wii Fit will no doubt be lapped up by all and sundry (1080 Snowboarding for Wii, please), Super Mario Galaxy was truly spectacular, and well, I actually quite liked the look of Killzone 2; shoot me. The fact I was there probably made it a little more enthralling than if I'd been sat on my backside 4,000 miles away, but I can appreciate the view of the naysayers: a return to the old format, though utterly unlikely, would be warmly welcomed.
Jeremy Jastrzab - PALGN Writer
So this is the new E3 ay? It’s kind of quiet…
We’ve known for a while that this year’s E3 will be different. It was meant to provide both business and media with greater opportunities to get the word out to the plebs. Personally, while most media have done a reasonable job of getting some of the word out there, there was distinctly less and very, very little that was brand spanking new – probably since it’s too early to be talking about any new consoles. Have we seen a shift in the times? In terms of the big three, frankly, no company at this year’s E3 really took initiative by the neck and set down a challenge to the opposition.
While I don’t think that there was a lot to distinguish between the big 3, Sony will probably came away the most satisfied and are certainly in a better position than last year. The price cut jump started the PS3 and left room at E3 for focus on the games. The PSP “Lite” may look a little “me too” but it’s a step in the right direction, particularly on screen improvement and battery life. Otherwise, it was disappointing that things like rumble in the Sixaxis weren’t mentioned. However, where Sony’s main strength came in the games, or of what they showed relating to their games. While not much was announced, what Sony showed was at least new and impressive, especially with Killzone 2, MGS4, Heavenly Sword and even LittleBigPlanet. For those who didn’t already know, it showed how much kick the PS3 has in it and once the big fellas start getting released (most likely led off by Heavenly Sword), the race may still be on for young and old. A shame that the PSP didn’t have much though… Again…
Having only had the chance to see the Microsoft press conference, I think they’ve been unfairly criticized in some corners. While there was nothing revelational and the Halo Xbox 360 is ugly, they were solid across the board. The games they showed, such as Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and Mass Effect look like real winners, as do 3rd party efforts such as Call of Duty 4. While games like Naruto and Scene It are cool, they’re probably won’t be enough to win over the market that Microsoft are looking for but these are steps in the right direction. It’s quite a shame that we won’t get the Disney movies but at the moment, the real classics look to depend on the success of what is available now. So while there was nothing crazy, Microsoft had a very solid showing. Still, their "bring it home" campaign fell on its face. Big time.
Now we get to Nintendo. It’s a strange situation, because regardless of their showing here, they’re still the market leader and will undoubtedly continue in the immediate future. However, their E3 showing was poor. If you’re American, it was ok. Even though it wasn’t shown, Super Smash Bros Brawl as well as Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption have all been dated for 2007. And all these games will be the bomb. Mario Kart comes in 2008 but beyond that? No Zelda, no Mario, likely no Metroid. Nothing. The future of real games is bleak, despite the fact that the good ones sell just as well as the casuals on the DS. The worst comment for me was that there was no Zelda even in development at the moment. The DS has made an absolute killing, but you’d barely known that it existed and Phantom Hourglass is still the only game that I want that is yet to be released. Sure, Wii Fit is a decent fling with mass appeal (and will probably sell like crazy) but to have utterly nothing beyond that is very disappointing. As David mentioned, PAL gamers seem to be in a worse position now that Nintendo is market leader, with more and more games dropping further and further. Maybe, they’re saving some more for later… (or at least that's what I hope).
As an event on the whole, next year’s edition will probably need some better organizing. Conceptually, it’s probably the right idea, but will need better co-ordination and definition in the future. Companies didn’t seem to know how to approach this and all three probably have a few more secrets up their sleeves. In terms of the media, it isn't really clear that the media got a better go but I'm sure that a lot of the vets were happy to get around the otherwise excessive crowds. Next year, it would be really nice to see a good ‘ol scrap between the big three as they truly fight for the consumers attention.
How well does Wii Fit fit into your idea of gaming?
Neil Booth- PALGN Writer
My reaction to this year's E3 is that I'm neither more nor less excited by anything that I was a week ago. If the whole thing hadn't happened, it wouldn't have made much difference.
I'm curious about the Wii Balance Board, but it's not exactly something that gets the heart racing, is it? Connect it up with a decent snowboarding, skateboarding or surfing title and interesting new possibilities open up, but for the moment we have... Wii Fit. It looks like an amusing distraction, I guess, but I think we'll have to wait until next year's E3 (if there is one) to see how creative developers can get with the Balance Board. And can we take a moment to ponder the sheer underwhelming whateverness of the Zapper? Thank you.
It's a real struggle to think of anything that can count as a highlight. Having both Viva Piñata and Gears of War coming to the PC is certainly a good thing, if they're both ported properly and, God forbid, don't become Vista only titles. Good to hear that Super Mario Galaxy is shaping up into a future classic. Also, I guess any time Blizzard announce - even by mistake - that they're working on something new, that's cause to get a little worked up. Blizzcon could well turn out to be more interesting than all of E3 combined.
It's easy to be cynical, and I guess E3 serves as a sort of mid-year, here-comes-Christmas! kick in the pants for the industry, but it's not really necessary, is it? It's as if removing all the overblown hype, noise and fireworks had the same effect as pulling back the curtains on the Wizard of Oz - after all the bluster, there's just some pale, sniffly guy in his undershirt looking to shift a few games. He'd rather be at home, so would we and I don't care how cheap the Zapper is, I still don't want one.
Phil Larsen - PALGN Writer
E3 was awesome.
I didn't have to watch lousy developers peddling their wares with lame booth babes, and got to focus on the cool new media for all the upcoming games. After the press conferences I pretty much tune out, as everything that was worth hearing has been said. In retrospect, there still wasn't all that much amazing news. Sure, there's a bunch of interviews floating around with the top chaps in each of the camps, but each one is skewed towards their own corporate vision. Long story short, I saw some new trailers, screenshots, and got enough of an excitement fix for the upcoming supergames. Now I just want to play them. Too much talk is bad, and the old E3 had that in spades. No beating around the bush here, just tell us what you've got, then make room for the next guy.
I don't need to be razzle-dazzled; show me quality games and I'll show you a thumbs up. Quality this year?
MGS4
Super Mario Galaxy
Promising success of the PS3 - yeah, the future is looking up, but it's still too damned expensive.
David Low - PALGN Writer
It seems E3 really did die in 2006. Not that this is a bad thing, but this new show hasn't quite found its legs. This was made clear by the reluctance of all parties to show much new content at this 'media and business summit'.
Of the hardware makers, Sony probably had the best show, with a few interesting new games shown at a decent press conference. But with the PS3 currently being crushed by its opposition, they had the most to prove too. Did they achieve what they needed to get them out of their potentially crippling rut? Probably not. But whether they're in a position to win the generation or not, Sony definitely showed a few games that will make the PS3 worth owning for dedicated gamers. An odd exception in my opinion was Metal Gear Solid 4, as the latest trailer was the most ridiculous yet, and actually made the game seem pretty tacky. Sony's show ended on an intriguing note of humility, with Jack Tretton asking nicely for us to still like them - a dramatic 180 from the last few years of stratospheric hubris. Unfortunately this wasn't the end of their E3 performance, as the lack of a PAL price cut was later matched by the revelation that the US price cut was temporary - whatever their plans on that one, it was horribly managed PR.
Microsoft did ok. It was smart PR to sideline their faulty hardware issue before the event, leaving the emphasis on the games. It's hard to get excited about new footage of games announced ages ago, although Mass Effect and Bioshock look as great as ever. The Rock Band performance was a bit embarrassing, but it was at least a break from the otherwise wall to wall bald space marines. Where is the diversity? With the machine selling only semi-decently in one major territory and poorly everywhere else, shameless Buzz and Mario Party rip-offs will not grow the brand. In some ways Microsoft seem content to play their part in the pincer movement with Nintendo that's currently sidelining Sony. If that's all they want - to keep Sony away from home computing - that's fine, but MS shareholders may want something more for their six billion bucks.
Nintendo were also about par for the course. Their approach with the DS and Wii was still being ridiculed by pundits and analysts until very recently, but they've all been proven utterly wrong, and even if the Wii slows down (although it shows absolutely no sign of doing so) Nintendo's vindication will be complete. Reggie's expected boasting was actually somewhat restrained - while he rambled a lot about 'growth', the closest he came to a direct comparison was his mention that the Wii would lead the generation 'very soon' (early August most likely). Of course, now that the Wii is ultra-successful and Nintendo cannot be sidelined numerically, the more recent line is to try and sideline them emotionally. There will always be the naysayers claiming Wii Fit means Nintendo have 'abandoned' the self-declared 'hardcore', but the announcement of Mario Kart Wii right before their latest 'non-game' should put this idea to rest, as should the huge number of mega-hit traditional games on the DS despite the success of Brain Training and Nintendogs.
While not too interesting for us, Wii Fit was easily the biggest announcement of the show, and it achieved its purpose, gaining widespread mainstream media attention in the US (The Washington Post: Nintendo Is Star of E3 Show as Rivals Scramble to Catch Up). But apart from that, their conference was pretty slim on the pickens. The plastic wheel and Zapper both went down like lead balloons, as they should since they were minor announcements at best. The lack of DS games apart from the awesome (but already released in Japan) Phantom Hourglass was striking, and despite its massive sales there still haven't been many big third party games announced for the Wii - although as mentioned, there was very little announced for anything at 'E3' 2007, so that's a somewhat moot point.
The pointless PAL delay of Smash Bros Brawl (and Super Paper Mario) has swiftly eroded the goodwill built up by years of decently timed PAL releases in a single hit. At least we're getting Mario and Metroid which both look phenomenal.
They're so adorable, how could you not love them?
Luke Van Leuveren - PALGN Acting General Manager
I was severely disappointed by this years E3. I was fully aware that the show would be a smaller affair but the idea of Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony holding E3 conferences had me excited that we may potentially see something worthwhile.
Microsoft simply took a laid back relaxed approach to their conference, revealing not all that much and seemingly saving all their big guns until X07. Aside from Viva Piñata: Party Animals and Scene It Microsoft mainly took the time to why they'll be number one etc.. Even Microsoft's Bringing It Home campaign wasn't all that impressive, last year we got demos of titles that were months off (such as Lost Planet and Sonic the Hedgehog) this year we got Blue Dragon and some filler demos, seriously disappointing. Thankfully there was actually more on the showfloor and even though we don't know much about Microsoft's plans past Christmas 2007 they have got a huge lineup for the rest of the year.
Nintendo's E3 showing was disappointing and if anything; demonstrated a few things that should have hardcore PAL Nintendo fans ready to scream. PAL Gamers are once again getting the raw end of the stick by Nintendo in fact Smash Brothers Brawl won't be out until next year, Project H.A.M.M.E.R has been postponed (expect it to be quietly cancelled soon) and in its place we got Wii Fit. Wii Fit sounds okay but it is definitely a concern that Nintendo are cancelling fully fledged titles for casual games like Wii Fit.
Sony had an okay showing with Killzone 2 finally getting some good press. The game itself looks fantastic, but with the game not out until next year it's hard to get too excited just yet. The one thing that really stopped Sony from obliterating the show was the fact that a rumble enhanced Sixaxis was not announced, which is very disappointing.
Anyway that closes the door on E3 and E3 2007. It's clear that this E3 was simply not as good as previous years and the big three companies in particular seem happy to hold their own conferences throughout the year and show off their titles as these events. To be honest I have my doubts we'll see an E3, 2008.
Joseph Rositano- PALGN Writer
It's difficult to express my thoughts on what was on show this year. With no new consoles revealed things just felt a tad boring. Don't get me wrong, the likes of the remodeled PSP "Light," Bee-suit Mario and the new Wii peripherals did catch my attention, but what really disappointed me was the general lack of new titles on show.
It’s just that usually when E3 comes along, there’s at least one or two surprises but when, for instance, Nintendo revealed a new Mario Kart game, it’s basically nothing people weren’t expecting in the first place. Even Sony’s Killzone 2 was pretty much expected to make an appearance following several months of speculation and minor details being revealed. As for Microsoft, to be perfectly honest, I am still trying to get my head around the Viva Piñata: Party Animals announcement. Generally speaking, I highly doubt the game will have the same impact the original Viva Piñata had (especially given it’s more of a spin-off game) and respectively, Microsoft’s conference could’ve been better utilised to reveal some higher profile titles.
Of course, several new titles were announced including Nitrobike, Spectrobes 2 and Top Spin 3, among others, but once again, they really weren’t all that surprising and nothing particularly stood out. In many respects, it’s easy to see why E3 has become a miniaturised pool of announcements - the bigger titles did indeed steal the limelight and smaller publishers simply weren’t being noticed but now it appears, we’re left with something which isn’t entirely satisfying as a whole.
And what’s with the big emphasis on “casual” gaming all of a sudden? It’s obviously a ploy to dish out games that don’t have a high amount of replay value or long life span (they can be two different things) so gamers will get bored with them quicker and then go off and purchase yet another title. Seriously, developers, watch yourselves carefully with this “growing market” as it may not be what you’re making us believe.
In short, this year’s E3 was probably one of the least thrilling expos in recent times. Although there were a whole bunch of new titles revealed, there wasn’t anything that actually stole the show and it’s left the feeling of “been there, done that.”
Brendan - PALGN Writer
Meh.
I had no expectations going into E3, yet somehow managed to end up feeling disappointed. I knew that this year's E3 would be nothing like years past, but I simply cannot believe the overwhelming lack of new content on display. Microsoft showed a boatload of potentially excellent games we already knew lots about (and Mass Effect still looks to be seven different kinds of awesome). Sony had a few surprises for us - most noticeably the in-game footage of Killzone 2 actually looking that good. But aside from that, not much else. Nintendo banged on about how great the Wii is - shock horror. But, at least they had some surprises for us. Unfortunately, those surprises were Wii Fit and the Zapper. Urgh. I'll pass, thank you.
On the plus side, what was shown - even if we already knew all about it - was great. Super Mario Galaxy looks staggering. I now really, really want Assassin's Creed. Anyone for Bioshock? I want a copy of Phantom Hourglass, please.
While 2007 looks utterly fantastic, we know very little about gaming in 2008. The future is murky. But, perhaps this is a good thing.
It seems casual is here to stay.
Mark Marrow- PALGN Writer
You can sum up E3 with this: Sony won, Microsoft was steady, Nintendo bombed and PC didn’t turn up.
All of the early press conferences were fairly ordinary, though Sony clearly won it hands down. Over the last couple of years their conferences had been boring, but this year they were more laidback and they managed to keep recent PS3 owners, or future PS3 owners, excited about the future. They’ve easily got the best lineup this year compared to Microsoft and Nintendo, and they were actually arsed to unveil a few 2008 titles that sound pretty awesome.
Microsoft was only focusing on the next few months and had absolutely nothing besides Resident Evil 5 to show for next year. Yeah, all the games coming out in the next few months are going to rock – I know that already – but what about the future? Absolutely nothing had me excited for 2008. The same with Nintendo. They unveiled nothing at all besides an extremely casual game that I know I won’t buy, which makes you feel as though Nintendo truly has shifted their focus onto the casuals and forgot about the hardcore games.
I honestly thought Nintendo’s conference was a joke. Let’s show titles that are either already out or are out in another month or so. Let’s boast about our awesome DS sales but show no new software. It was an absolute stunner that the handheld that is outselling everything barely got a focus at E3. And let’s unveil a bunch of cool software the year before, and then not talk about anything third-party at this year’s event. No More Heroes, Day of Disaster and whatever else third-party companies are working on didn’t even get a focus. Perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough during E3, but there doesn’t seem to be too much appealing software outside of the typical first-party suspects such as Mario and Metroid in 2007 and beyond.
For me it was all Sony. LittleBigPlanet and Heavenly Sword probably stole the show for me. The amount of potential those two games have, especially LittleBigPlanet, is unbelievable and I’m sure they are two games that any gamer would just love to play just for the sake of wanting to play good games. And I know for a fact that thanks for Sony’s promising PS3 lineup I really, really, really etc. want a PS3!
Despite Microsoft dropping the ball a bit, I still thought Mass Effect really stood out as a must-own title for me. Over the last year progress had been fairly ordinary and it just didn’t look overly impressive. However, BioWare’s showcasing at E3 has convinced me that it’ll absolutely rock.
I don’t have a clue where the awesome PC lineup went. Crysis looks awesome, as does The Witcher, but the rest of the lineup shown at E3 were titles everyone has seen for ages now, and a whole bunch of MMOs. Boring!
The new E3 is probably a change for the better, though I think companies were just unaware of how to approach the whole thing, plus the layout was terrible - should’ve been all set in one central area. I think most companies will prefer showcasing titles at much later events of their own, or other popular events such as Leipzig (August) or the Tokyo Game Show (September) for Japanese developers. Square Enix barely had a presence at E3.
My top five games shown would be: LittleBigPlanet, Heavenly Sword, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Mass Effect, and Haze. Oh, look, most of those are PS3 titles and I don't even own one!
Matt Keller - PALGN Writer
I'll keep this brief, since I said most of what I thought in the podcast.
As a gamer, I thought Sony had the most interesting show, but that's because they had a couple of things to show that previously had some mystery around them - particularly Killzone 2. We pretty much knew everything that Microsoft and Nintendo were going to show; okay, the balance board was a bit of a surprise, but it's kind of the exception to the rule - everyone blew their proverbial load last year, and now this year they didn't want to show anything that wouldn't be out before E3 - that sucks for this E3, but should hopefully mean that we won't see games having multiple E3 appearances in the future.
At the end of the day, there was still a bunch of awesome games on display - enough to make my wallet quiver with fear. I'm also now 100% sold on a Wii - Super Mario Galaxy should be one heck of a return to form for Mario.
Tristan Kalogeropoulos- PALGN Writer
I was entirely surprised at the impact of this year’s E3. When it was hit by the shrink-ray late last year I had presumed a complete non-event would greet us this July. And whilst it may not have been the extravaganza that it has been in past years I actually, unlike many of my fellow PALGNers, think that there was a substantial showing. I’m also relatively happy that the circus has finally left town, leaving what we’re actually there to look at, the games.
I seems to me that E3’s new decentralized physical structure coupled with, the cycle of the consoles being where it is, has meant that there was a slight lack of focus for the show. But if you peer beyond the ‘Big Three’s’ keynotes there are some incredible gems tucked away. The only problem with this is much of what we saw held aloft were titles that are coming in the next few months meaning divining our gaming futures meant doing a bit of digging.
The major platform holders appear to have cemented their places within the gaming landscape like some kind of archetypal schoolyard with its groupings and alliances. As with the real school yard these groupings are formed not by the things that they have in common - and there are many commonalities that each platform shares –but instead have their borders drawn by the offerings that are relatively unique to each.
Microsoft seems content, for the most part, to fit the role of the Jock’s. Sport’s and shooters seem their strength. Call of Duty 4 looks to be delivering the goods. I wanted to see more of Alan Wake, and Resident Evil 5. Mass Effect is looking great and should please those pining for a more complex experience. I believe the lack of a price drop announcement is testament to the fact that Microsoft is happy about its current status.
Sony looks to be the group of kids in the playground from middle to upper-class backgrounds that are well off enough to have a liberal and artistic leaning. Continuously interested in what many gamers would think of as pretentious titles like Echochrome and Everyday Shooter - both of which look amazingly interesting - but always going back to their shiny toys at home. Both Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed still look awesome to me as does Killzone 2. Haze looks excellent too and should do reasonably well timed exclusive or not. LittleBigPlanet and Home seem huge gambles and whilst they look fantastic my only concern is that their trying to be all things to all people. My concerns aside, I think that it’s them that had the best showing, especially considering their recent history.
Nintendo appears content to be that group of easy going kids. Their montages of Youtube-esque videos showing that they are the ‘everyman’ too. The brevity of titles displaying grand sweeping narratives is a troubling to the ‘hardcore’ and slightly alienating to the group. However there strategy of appealing to the masses has been working well and something like Wii Fit will, in my opinion, sell pretty well once the viral marketing through mother’s blogs, major news sources and word of mouth kicks into gear.
Then there’s the PC. That nerdy group of kids that seem to eat lunch by themselves. Continuously ignored by the rest of the herd, they’re actually the one’s who are ahead of the pack. Crysis continuously manages to blow my tiny little mind, this time presenting actual gameplay, rather than the playpen demo we've seen previously, that looks beautiful as well as incredibly engaging and unique. I’m curiously interested in what the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. team will make of the impressive yet slightly buggy and delayed franchise. I can also imagine Viva Piñata on the PC working well on a desktop too.
If there is an E3 next year here’s to hoping it continues within its smaller frame but also manages to work on the criticisms aimed at it in order to deliver a more focused view of what the gaming world has to offer. Especially as I’m actually looking forward to the next one for a change.
James Gay - PALGN Manager
I agree strongly with Tristan – I’m surprised at how successful this year’s E3 was. After attending the show last year, it was clear that the old model was not sustainable – so much money was being spent, but with the number of people attending, it was very difficult to get a meaningful showing of the games to those who needed it. When the announcement came that publishers were dropping support for E3 in late July last year, I doubt there were many people in the industry who were surprised.
Coming into the event this year, we really didn’t know what to expect. During the lead-up to the show, we heard very few people being positive about the expo and PALGN was strongly considering not sending a representative at all. If we had turned up to find only a typical trade show, I would not have been surprised.
However, that wasn’t what happened. The press conferences were still peppered with numerous announcements, the “show floor” (Baker Hanger) still had the first playable showing for many games and all the publishers made an effort. We haven’t seen an event this important in the games industry since the last E3 and we won’t see another until E3 2008. I think the lack of content at this year show relative to last year can be accounted for simply due to everyone being cautious, without really knowing what to expect. I have no doubt that we’ll see an even more impressive showing next year.
I think the real winners here are the game publishers. The message still got out and (I presume) much less money was spent. If the venue problems are fixed for next year, we could see this format of E3 sticking around for quite a while.
This time around it's a case of 'seeing is believing' for Killzone 2.
Evan- PALGN Writer
I have a confession to make - I have a secret. It's a fairly controversial one, one that'll probably get me in hot water with quite a few people. It's something I've kept fairly quiet, but it's also something that I need to get off my chest.
I thought Nintendo nailed E3, Microsoft finally got it, and Sony blew it.
Before the peasants come with their pitchforks to impale the heretic, let me explain. We all love games, right? We're gamers because we love games. We love the challenge they present, we love the culture they create, and we love the esoteric trivia that goes along with them. We have passionate arguments about the role the Western version of Super Mario 2 played in changing the perception of Mario. What killed the adventure game. Whether Final Fantasy VII really was the greatest RPG ever made.
There's only one problem with that though - there's not that many of us, and there are many more of "them".
E3's origins lied in creating "buzz" about games - it was created in a time with minimal gaming media coverage. As such, it was created to give a voice to the industry, a platform from which it could yell, gesticulate, and otherwise call attention to itself. Despite a profitable E3 2006, the ESA announced last year that this year's E3 would be smaller, invite only, and most importantly, focused on creating relationships between press and publishers. While most consumers were unhappy with the new arrangement, it marks a watershed - the industry is finally growing up.
There's only so many "hardcore" gamers out there and if you're marketing to the hardcore, you're marketing to the minority. Quips like the "lamestream" (mainstream) media may be funny to the acolytes of Age of Empires, but they miss the point - in the immortal words of Origin, designers may create worlds, but as Voltaire said, "When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion."
The "new and improved" E3 is a vehicle to deliver that money. It's all about connecting publishers with the media to create greater coverage, and the days the flashy conference are over - gaming is going to be less and less about the glitz and boothbabes and more and more about accessibility, media penetration, and column inches. The games industry is going through a revolution right now, and E3 is only one small symptom of that transformation.
I would personally never buy a mobile phone game. Wouldn't even play one if you gave it to me for free. But, I also live in a world where Crazy Frog sold millions and released not one, but multiple albums. There's a lot more people out there that aren't like me, and they're willing to spend as much if not more money than I do. It's these people that everyone's trying to capture, and it's these people that gaming events are going to increasingly focus on.
Nintendo realised this early, and bowed out of the hardware race to better cater to the larger market. Their press conference was totally geared towards this, and my money's on time showing that they called it right. Wii Fit will move millions, much to the disgust of my gaming brethren.
Microsoft has now realised this, and made their E3 pitch with this in mind. Microsoft doesn't innovate, and as such it's unlikely Microsoft will ever be number one. What they do though, and what they do well, is imitate. And, they're executing in brilliant fashion.
Sony's still not getting it. They had the most exciting conference for the hardcore, but they're dooming themselves to irrelevance in the process. Gran Turismo looked spectacular in HD, but Wii Fit made the papers. They may finally win the hearts and minds of the devout, but they'll never win your parents.
Despite not actually doing it, USA Today was interested in streaming the Nintendo press conference. However, that they were interested says worlds about the accessibility Nintendo's achieving in the market. And, this is the success by which future E3s will be judged - the ability of publishers and manufacturers to achieve media penetration, not their ability to win fanboys and impress the technically literate. After pushing for so many years to achieve gaming respectability, it seems we may have finally gotten what we wanted. Our grandmas are gamers now. As with all things though, there's a catch - it seems we may not like the monster we've created. By making games respectable, we've lost control of what we loved, and in the process so doing, we've made ourselves the minority.
This is the way it's going to be from here on in. Get used to it, as it won't be going away.
Chris Sell - PALGN Writer
When it comes to surprises and new announcements this year’s E3 was very thin on the ground. With the current generation now in full swing the chances of seeing anything new hardware-related was always going to be slim so it was of no surprise that the (underwhelming) PSP redesign was the only thing we saw. New games weren’t exactly plentiful either with Microsoft only showing games due out this year which we had mostly seen before, Nintendo still building up their big trio of Metroid, Mario and Smash Bros and Sony updating us on what they had shown last year.
But although the show was lacking in surprises it certainly made up for it with just the sheer amount of exciting software on the way. When trying to compile a ‘top 10 games of E3’ list for an E3 thread on another gaming forum my list soon grew from 10 to well over 30 games that I was looking forward to. Super Mario Galaxy was probably my star of the show, not only looking leagues better than any Wii game so far, but now finally showing glimpses of what could be the game to do Mario 64 justice. Close behind Mario has to be Call of Duty 4, which despite its modern setting, still looks like it’s retained that CoD ‘feel’ perfectly from all the videos we’ve seen. Halo 3’s single player trailer, though not a great trailer by any means (the later news that it was made using the in-game film maker explains a lot) didn’t fail to get me excited either. As a fan of the recent guitar games it was great to see that Rock Band and Guitar Hero III were prominent parts of the show and look to take the genre further than ever before.
Ubisoft’s Brothers In Arms and Assassins Creed both looked stunning while Midway’s Blacksite: Area 51 and Stranglehold could be sleeper hits of 2007. Uncharted showed plenty of promise, Ratchet & Clank Future looked every bit as good as you could have imagine it could do on the PS3 and Metroid Prime 3 Corruption seems to have nailed Wii remote controls for first person games.
PGR4, Heavenly Sword, Army of Two, GTA IV, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Unreal Tournament III, Mass Effect, BioShock, Super Smash Bros Brawl, LittleBigPlanet, Orange Box... the games look like they will just keep coming and coming this year, and when they do, what happened at E3 and the press conferences will be long forgotten I can assure you of that.
Harry Milonas - PALGN Writer
Far be it for me to pull a Pachter and pass a hasty final judgement on the E3 2007 proceedings that were, but the show’s reason for existence has finally demonstrated its pointlessness somewhat. Sure, without the all-round all-inclusive celebratory vibe, the E3 of this year was simply a horde of sweaty journalists walking around Santa Monica hangars and hotels enjoying their own fellow body odours, rather than those of the unwelcome fanboy masses of previous years. And good riddance too. However, without a centralised venue, the E3 games of this year were sometimes missed even moreso; independent games were all but naught; and a sense of fellowship for the industry was completely non-existent. Sure, we all had an inkling before the first press conference even began that things would be different (in a completely non-GTA IV way); but when the most interesting press conference contained an endlessly nervous Jack Tretton, you had to know we were all in for a bit of a disappointment.
Okay, okay, I keed. To their credit, Sony pulled a complete 180 compared to last year’s suicidal Riiidge Racer/Giant Enemy Crab memes, with a far more humble candour and curious upcoming releases to boot. With a couple of surprises thrown in here and there too, the only thing they could have done to nail it would have been some actual release dates. On the flipside, Microsoft and Nintendo played it far, far too safe; with the former understandably kicking back and bragging exclusively about its admittedly top quality holiday 2007 lineup; and the latter never shutting up about it’s underdog success, "zapping zombies" and shilling Shigsy for the sake of the casual gamer. And who can really blame any of them? Their respective, sometimes mind-numbing, corporate strategies are after all, what got them to their successful points in the industry today, and the 'new E3' was always meant to emphasise the business side of things.
But while we can endlessly speculate with a bias which press conference “won”, or how much of a lucky blighter Mr Leigh was, the fact of the matter is E3 2007 felt lacking in a more detrimental degree – in short, where the hell were the surprises? Where were the game announcements that came out of nowhere, that bumped off whatever titles were already on our wish lists to a forgotten memory? Silent Hill 5? Expected for what seems like forever. Mario Kart Wii? Who didn't know this was an inevitability? Rock Band continuing to kick the crap out of Guitar Hero brand? A revelation only to flabbergasted Activision execs. For me, and no doubt countless others, the surprises are what E3 has always been about, and the fact that most of the BIG surprises were already known entities before the event kicked off proper was the main rude awakening to grow accustomed to; hopefully, something that won’t become the new annual tradition.
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So how about you? What set your heart aflutter? What did you hate? How do you view 2007's new take on E3? Let your opinions on this years E3 be heard in the comments.
I've only got some beef with this statement:
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