E3 2008

[AndrewTS 0]

9:00 Shaun White comes out and demos Shaun White Snowboarding, along with the Wii Fit balance board.

 

1up actually had some positive first impressions of this. Doesn't change the fact that the balance board is an overprice piece of plastic, but still could be worth playing..

 

9:10 Satoru Iwata approaches the stage and begins to give a speech about how the industry has changed, and how Nintendo has managed to adapt.

 

By being cheap bastards.

 

9:20 Animal Crossing City Folk is shown. Announces additional area called The City, where players can shop, ship items, etc.

 

Animal Crossing's very existence eats at my soul. People buy it and buy it and make their little houses, fill it with crap and I die a little inside.

 

9:25 WiiSpeak is announced to allow voice chat during gameplay, and will indeed work with Animal Crossing.

 

What the hell do you need voice chat in Animal Crossing for anyway?

 

9:30 Reggie Fils-Aime approaches the stage and instantly slips into the market data reports and sales numbers for the Wii and Nintendo DS, but admits they still aren’t satisfied.

 

Time to renew that pact with Satan.

 

9:35 Star Wars: The Clone Wars is shown for the Nintendo Wii, with several actors jumping speedily around the living room wielding their wii motes as lightsabers.

 

****ty art design + impractical control scheme = money.

 

It being a movie licensed game fills me with so much confidence.

 

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 is shown for the Nintendo Wii.

 

Old news. Ubi bringing the Nintendo-like quality.

Call of Duty World at War is shown, as showcases the ability to use the wii zapper to fire your weapon.

 

Or in my case, the Perfect Shot. Too bad it will probably be the most gawdofal version.

 

Spore Creatures is announced for the Nintendo DS, which allows you to share your creatures amongst your friends.

 

My sporemons, let me show you them!

 

It's pretty much just the creation tool of Spore, as far as I know, which you can then import into the real game. Fair enough activity on the go, but it really should *not* be a full priced title.

 

Grand Theft Auto: ChinaTown Wars is announced for the Nintendo DS.

 

Megatonnage! A Nintendo exclusive GTA game!! Like those other portable ones no one cared about on the GBA and GBC.

 

9:40 Wii MotionPlus is shown, which is a peripheral that attaches to the bottom of the Wii Mote. This helps calculate your wrist movements more accurately.

 

Translation: a peripheral that is designed to fix the Wiimote's absolute dog**** motion detection, which was hardly worthy of being called a finished product.

 

Yet again, Nintendo fixes their imperfect tech's mistakes, and passes the buck to you, the consumer.

 

WiiSports Resort is announced, which will have MotionPlus included in the package. Jet Ski, Fetch with your Dog, and Sword Dueling are all demoed live. Launches globally next spring.

 

A real WiiSports sequel is actually really, really smart. It stealth-introduces Nintendo's fixes to the technology plus will inevitably be considered must-have.

 

9:55 Wii Music is announced. Shigeru Miyamoto approaches the stage using the Wii Mote to play the onscreen saxophone. Someone is also using a combination of the Wii Fit board and Wii Mote to play the drums in the background. The balance board is used to push the drum pedals while the Wii Mote strikes the symbols. A large group of people then come out, select their instrument, and continue to play the Super Mario Brothers theme song.

 

Nintendo's innovation knows no bounds!!

 

They better not leave E3 without introducing a 1st party game that I can shoot, beat up, or otherwise kill some mother****ers in, and it better be good.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

I think that's the most bitter Andrew post I've ever seen in this forum.

 

I can't honestly tell if that's a parody of another person or a straight post.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Im surprised there hasnt been more said about "wiispeak" although I wonder if other games besides Animal Crossing will support it.

 

 

and I have a feeling "Wii Music" was their big game, with Nintendo trying to do their own spin on the now popular music game trend...

 

 

 

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

All these games G4 are profiling from E3 look exactly the same with different visuals and styles of play..

 

Walk around. Shoot things. Run a little bit. Shoot more things. Throw a grenade. Kill some more. Maybe throw in a big monster. Kill more stuff. Maybe something cinematic happens. Kill more stuff.

 

Maybe it's because I was a PC gamer years ago, but I've DONE all this FPS bullshit before. It's the same hat, just with prettier visuals. Stuff like Gears of War doesn't interest me, because it's just a third person variation of this same formula. It boils down to the mindless massacre of enemies.

 

Everything is the *SAME*. How long has it been like this? Forever and I'm just now realizing it? Didn't there used to be variation in games? Why is everything EXACTLY the same with the same "gritty realistic" setting?

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I think they are producing way too many FPS games and too many idiots buy them.

[Mik 0]

Why is everyone so excited about Animal Crossing? I just about fell asleep watching some of the game footage.

[AndrewTS 0]

I think that's the most bitter Andrew post I've ever seen in this forum.

 

I can't honestly tell if that's a parody of another person or a straight post.

 

A bit over the top exaggerated for effect, but the intent is straight. I'm losing my tolerance of Nintendo. It's bad enough that they can't even consistently release real games anymore. They can't even consistently release good downloadable games anymore. This is a company sitting on the likes of Earthbound and Super Mario RPG and they give us Major League Eating and Spogs Racing? I wouldn't download that for free. Now this. What is there honestly here to get excited over, praytell?

 

It appears to me that the Wii's best days are over. It's common for third-parties to make cheap crap, but when you can't rely on Nntendo themselves for anything worth a damn, it's a really bad sign.

 

If Nintendo ends up announcing like 4-6+ terrific looking core titles for this year (let's say, Next Gen Kirby, Disaster in smooth-looking playable form, etc.) I'll be glad to say I'm wrong, but this is ridiculous so far.

 

Why is everyone so excited about Animal Crossing?

 

Don't know about on here, but there are Nintendo fans who are more excited about N's stock than they are entertaining games to play.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

The reason I gve up on Nintendo a long time ago was that they weren't producing enough 1st party stuff. Come on, one major Mario game per generation. I have to buy a new system for a Mario game.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

I've always been an Animal Crossing fan, personally. Fun to just play and do random stuff in.

 

The problem is, the game's requirements are nuts. If you don't play for a day or two, the entire game world could fall apart, and EVERY villager will be *PISSED* at you.

 

I'd end up giving up on entire games because I wasn't able to play for a day or two.

[AndrewTS 0]

The reason I gve up on Nintendo a long time ago was that they weren't producing enough 1st party stuff. Come on, one major Mario game per generation. I have to buy a new system for a Mario game.

 

I'd be upset if I bought a Gamecube for Mario Sunshine.

 

We don't really need 2-3 Mario platformers per generation. However, with Nintendo's potential of IPs, old and new, that they could use for really great "core" games, and have so little to deliver these days, it seems like they have no interest in investing in a new AAA game anymore, period.

 

I've always been an Animal Crossing fan, personally. Fun to just play and do random stuff in.

 

The problem is, the game's requirements are nuts. If you don't play for a day or two, the entire game world could fall apart, and EVERY villager will be *PISSED* at you.

 

All I ever did in Animal Crossing was play NES games.

 

[Scroby 0]

Why is everyone so excited about Animal Crossing? I just about fell asleep watching some of the game footage.

It's addicting once you get into it.

 

 

And I think Andrew needs a big ol Nintendo hug.

 

Overall the Microsoft conferance got me excited the most for their product, while Nintendo and Sony really didn't. What about you guys? Which company got you excited for their product?

[AndrewTS 0]

Why is everyone so excited about Animal Crossing? I just about fell asleep watching some of the game footage.

It's addicting once you get into it.

 

 

And I think Andrew needs a big ol Nintendo hug.

 

Overall the Microsoft conferance got me excited the most for their product, while Nintendo and Sony really didn't. What about you guys? Which company got you excited for their product?

 

Sony.

 

I want Infamous, PSP Resistance should be great, MAG has a lot of potential, and God of War III is the single biggest piece of news out of all 3, IMO. Too bad Sony is allergic to showing real-time stuff/gameplay.

 

It better be one hell of a hug, too.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I have a 360 so Microsoft made me excited.

[AndrewTS 0]

So awesome.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Hooray for a new Red Faction.

 

Boo for the "blow stuff up" gimmick STILL (based on the footage shown) basically being destroying building and bridge textures while the wireframe stays solid, meaning nothing changed.

 

Blowing walls up is fun though.

[BUTT 0]

I still can't believe how bad Nintendo's conference was. OK, I was dumb with all those sequels I predicted earlier. REAL dumb. It was just wishful thinking. Except for Nintencats. I really thought that was coming. It's been three years since the first Nintendogs. It's high time for a spinoff, as a prelude to the inevitable Wii Nintendogs. As soon as they started with Cool Mom talking about snowboarding, I knew we were in trouble. If the first game you show is the multiplatform Shaun White Snowboarding, methinks you don't have the strongest hand to play. But as I was watching, I thought "OK, it's just like last year's conference, but I'm sure there will be at least ONE cool game announced." Nope. I liked Wii Music, but they showed that two years ago. The Wii Sports sequel is smart and it might be fun, but it's not like I'll run out and buy it the first day. Maybe not even the first year. And then I saw Reggie on G4 after the conference, telling Morgan and co., "How could a core gamer be disappointed? We announced Animal Crossing AND a new GTA!" I don't expect/want Nintendo to jump on the me-too bandwagon and make a Halo/Gears clone like so many companies are doing, but they can't even make ONE game that appeals to the audience that likes those games? Does every title they release have to be an evergreen blue ocean paradigm shifting market disruptor for the expanded audience?

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Yes. Yes it does.

 

Core gamers are, and really haven't ever been the target of the Wii. They've made this abundantly clear in the last few E3's.

 

As long as they can sell to casual gamers, Nintendo is going to be the #1 console of this generation. We don't really count to them anymore.

 

And I say that as a Wii owner, who can't find games I like on any console. We don't *matter* to Nintendo. They've got their business model, and it's been working.

[AndrewTS 0]

And then I saw Reggie on G4 after the conference, telling Morgan and co., "How could a core gamer be disappointed? We announced Animal Crossing AND a new GTA!"

 

Fuck you, Reggie. Choke to death on a piece of pizza.

 

Yes. Yes it does.

 

Core gamers are, and really haven't ever been the target of the Wii. They've made this abundantly clear in the last few E3's.

 

As long as they can sell to casual gamers, Nintendo is going to be the #1 console of this generation. We don't really count to them anymore.

 

And I say that as a Wii owner, who can't find games I like on any console. We don't *matter* to Nintendo. They've got their business model, and it's been working.

 

"Casual" gamers don't buy games in large numbers. It's questionable if Nintendo will actually be able to sustain that market for very long before they get flat out bored with the Wii. Their model is sustainable if the core gamers are happy and sustain them. Casuals are fair weather; they come and go. Casuals are sustainable if they keep attracting new ones all the time, but they'll need to gain nearly as many as they lose.

 

If this is Nintendo's plan, I hope their Wii games all bomb this year and they can't move software to save their lives. They'll still be okay selling Wii Sports Machines, but they could easily scuttle a large market and maybe never gain them back.

[Anya 0]

Walk around. Shoot things. Run a little bit. Shoot more things. Throw a grenade. Kill some more. Maybe throw in a big monster. Kill more stuff. Maybe something cinematic happens. Kill more stuff.

 

 

Everything ever(like not even video games) can be broke down like this.

 

No, they're not all the same. Gears is not a 3rd person Doom, the cover mechanic is significant. Bioshock is a completely different experience than Call of Duty 4. And on and on.

[dubq 0]

So awesome.

 

Jesus fuck I'm all over that.

[BUTT 0]

Yes. Yes it does.

 

Core gamers are, and really haven't ever been the target of the Wii. They've made this abundantly clear in the last few E3's.

 

As long as they can sell to casual gamers, Nintendo is going to be the #1 console of this generation. We don't really count to them anymore.

 

And I say that as a Wii owner, who can't find games I like on any console. We don't *matter* to Nintendo. They've got their business model, and it's been working.

 

It just doesn't make any sense to me. I understand the need to draw new casual fans into the fold, but they aren't the entire games market. The goal should be to get those casual fans AND hardcore gamers. Nintendo doesn't seem to realize that "core gamers" doesn't just extend to "people who were Nintendo fans before Wii came out." They think that their Gamecube sequels like Animal Crossing and Mario Strikers Charged are enough to satisfy the "core" crowd. And I'm sure if you were a big Gamecube fan, you like Wii because they're the same system they have a lot of the same franchises. But Nintendo needs to reach out to that other, very large portion of the gaming audience: those who chose a PS2 or Xbox over Gamecube because they thought the games on the 'Cube looks "kiddy" and "lame." Nintendo has done NOTHING to cater to them. The upcoming Fatal Frame IV, which they are publishing themselves at least in Japan, and probably here, fits in that category but it wasn't shown or talked about at the conference at all. They haven't even done the traditional "upcoming games" montage at their E3 conference for two years.

 

And as Andrew said, casual buyers don't buy many games. Nintendo only really needs 2 or 3 big Wii games for them per year, and maybe 4 or 5 for DS. They know the potential to sell these types of products for years and years, so they should try to knock one out of the park for each one.

 

As I can gleam from what's been announced so far, here's Nintendo's first-party release list for the rest of the year, some of which will surely get bumped to '09 and some of which haven't been given release dates yet so they probably aren't even scheduled for '08:

 

Wii:

 

Mario Super Sluggers

Wario Land: Shake It

Wii Sports Resort (the cutest game that you have ever seen!)

Wii Music

Animal Crossing: City Folk

Fatal Frame IV

 

DS:

 

Rhythm Heaven (AKA Rhythm Tengoku)

Cooking Navi

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

Kirby Superstar Ultra

Fire Emblem, maybe?

 

Impressive list...if you're impressed by FAILURE! AHAHAHAHA oh crap all i have are ds and wii

[Ripper 0]

So awesome.

 

Jesus fuck I'm all over that.

 

I am not going to get over excited. I mean it Psi-ops/Crackdown. Or Psi-Down. Or Crackops.

 

Meaning there are like a million ways it could be totally awesome....and a million ways it could suck untold amounts of ass. I have to assume that story is going to suck, because...well..it looks like its going to suck. The gameplay looks like one of those games you could sit there and fuck around for hours and still have fun (unlike, say GTAIV which sucked that ability right out of the series). But still...not going to get overly excited...yet(since I ain't getting any Crackdown 2 goddammit.)

[Ripper 0]

Oh, I wasn't done bitching.

 

Fuck that MAG trailer. I am so sick of them putting out rendered video to get people excited. If you put that many fucking people online on a game at the same time interacting with each other it is A: Going to be ridiculously slow or B: Not going to look amazing. I am putting my money on the not looking amazing part. So get the fuck out of here with hyping people up with a level of graphics you know GODDAMNED well you won't be able to reach when you try and put over 250 players out there at once. Fucking assholes.

 

God of War III should be awesome, I will believe a good DC game when it happens, and Little Big Planet looks amazing.

 

Still, I don't understand the "Microsoft and Nintendo should be nervous about Sony's annoucements" headline on Yahoo right now. Maybe its just me, but I ain't that fucking impressed that 'Sony takes the lead" should be the headline on my homepage. Not that Microsoft (new dashboard and we ripped off Mii's) and their announcement about FF what the fuckever excited me (have never played a FF game and probably never will) and Nintendo was blah, but honestly, why spend money putting on a show when people are going to buy your shit anyway?

[Scroby 0]

Honestly what did Sony annouce that was impressive or at least would blow Nintendo and Microsoft out of the water? Nothing, don't get me wrong, Microsoft and Nintendo didn't really annouce anything either, unless you want to consider the Netflix thing, but all three companies really didn't annouce anything huge and big.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

You know what's funny (and sad)? I still find myself getting defensive of Microsoft and downplaying Sony in my mind. ... And I own both a 360 and a PS3.

 

[AndrewTS 0]

As I can gleam from what's been announced so far, here's Nintendo's first-party release list for the rest of the year, some of which will surely get bumped to '09 and some of which haven't been given release dates yet so they probably aren't even scheduled for '08:

 

Wii:

 

Mario Super Sluggers

Wario Land: Shake It

Wii Sports Resort (the cutest game that you have ever seen!)

Wii Music

Animal Crossing: City Folk

Fatal Frame IV

 

DS:

 

Rhythm Heaven (AKA Rhythm Tengoku)

Cooking Navi

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

Kirby Superstar Ultra

Fire Emblem, maybe?

 

Impressive list...if you're impressed by FAILURE! AHAHAHAHA oh crap all i have are ds and wii

 

The big rumors for other titles are Kid Icarus Wii by Factor 5 (makers of Lair which featured gawdofal motion controls until analog was patched in0, a new Wii Kirby game from HAL that has been on and off since the Gamecube version was quietly canned. Nintendo probably should give us new media and a date for Disaster...if they haven't cancelled it quietly. A ground-up Wii Zelda is supposed to be in the works, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

 

Now, if Nintendo were to completely cop out on all that stuff, they would pretty much lose Europe and the Americas, but honestly they'd still be gold in Japan. Have you seen a NeoGAF Mediacreate thread? If you haven't, I'll just say that it's deeply depressing and leave it at that.

 

DS is on cruise control anyway and doesn't really need much 1st party stuff. There are still plenty of really good DS games out there I have yet to buy. Plus Kirby Superstar, remake or not, is still totally awesome and sweet and if you never played it on SNES you should get it.

 

Honestly what did Sony annouce that was impressive or at least would blow Nintendo and Microsoft out of the water? Nothing, don't get me wrong, Microsoft and Nintendo didn't really annouce anything either, unless you want to consider the Netflix thing, but all three companies really didn't annouce anything huge and big.

 

Ratchet and Clank PSN / Resistance PSP alone blows everything Nintendo new brought up out of the water for me. Plus the stuff I already knew existed that was shown/mentioned I find generally more interesting. Infamous will probably be the game that makes me get a PS3 if it is shaping up as great as it seems.

[BUTT 0]

Honestly what did Sony annouce that was impressive or at least would blow Nintendo and Microsoft out of the water? Nothing, don't get me wrong, Microsoft and Nintendo didn't really annouce anything either, unless you want to consider the Netflix thing, but all three companies really didn't annouce anything huge and big.

I think Sony just looked good by comparison because neither of the others were very good, although Microsoft's FF13 announcement and the debut of Gears 2 put them far ahead of Nintendo. Sony's conference was super-boring, but Resistance PSP was a surprise and the debut of GoW3 was a nice capper for the whole thing.

 

God, remember how great '06 was? Nintendo came out blazing, Microsoft had some good stuff and Sony had a nice mixture of cool games and hilariously embarassing moments. Two years and this is how far we've come. E3 is dead.

 

EDIT: Apparently this was not the debut of Gears 2. OK

[luke-o 0]

Bloody hell.

 

There was pretty much nothing announced this year to get my excited about anything.

 

Microsoft: New dashboards, Mii rip-offs, Gears 2, FFVIII.

 

Seen as though I've not turned my 360 on since Gears 1, I'm not bothered about any of these. I've not liked a FF game since 9 and I don't think this will change my mind.

 

Nintendo: Snowboarding, New Wii Sports, Wii Music

 

Don't like snowboarding. Wii Sports could be good. I like the look of Wii Music, even if it's just for the drums.

 

I didn't look much at the Sony confrence because I couldn't care less. But from what I've read from you guys, I still don't care. Rachet and Clank can eat my arse and I'm not fussed on God of War 3.

 

This could be quite a dull year.

[AnonymousBroccoli 0]

Nintendo's conference was pretty lame. Even by my standards of lameness. (See signature. ) I usually get irrationally giddy at the mere sight of new Nintendo stuff. There was nothing there that appealed to me. Except maybe the GTA DS announcement, which was more of a surprise than an "OMG GOTTA HAVE IT". MotionPlus is kinda cool, but I hope they integrate it into new Wii-motes, rather than making you throw a dongle on every single one. Animal Crossing pretty much bored me during my GameCube rental time. Wii AC's announcement did more of the same. Robbie Drums was hilarious, and needs some GIF action.

 

And 4Chan obliges:

 

http://i34.tinypic.com/2e1ap9v.jpg

 

Anyhow. Just makes me glad I haven't spent my money on a Wii. I thought it was over-priced at $250 at launch, and it's still $270 ($303 w/ tax) in Ontario. Virtual Console is over-priced, ridiculously under-exploited, and the games aren't portable in any sense. Not playable on DS where possible (and most of them should be), or from an SD card, or even movable to another Wii. There's maybe a dozen current disc games I'm even remotely interested in, but again, nothing I've gotta have. And nothing I can think of coming down the pipe.

 

The G4 Fallout 3 demo was fuckin' swank. Adam Sessler was pretty much ready to ejaculate on stage.

 

http://www.g4tv.com/e32008/videos/26939/Ha..._Fallout_3.html

 

The MS conference was my favourite, between the HUGE FFXIII news (which, admittedly, I don't really care about), Rock Band 2, and various other stuff. I've got a 360 and a semi-capable PC for now, so that helps.

 

I thought the Gears 2 demo was pretty cool. Sideways elevator ride in a collapsed building; grabbing an enemy's shield, using it, then planting it in the ground for cover; "If they can ride 'em, so can we."

 

Fable 2 didn't really do much for me, either on G4 or at the MS conference. I liked what I saw from GDC, and I'm still gonna get it, but I haven't seen anything exciting from E3.

 

I didn't love or hate the Sony conference. Some neat ideas and games, but nothing really blew me away.

 

I was kind of surprised at the Ratchet PSN game price. I thought maybe $20, and expected $30, but it ends up being $15. Not too bad.

 

The Resistance 2 demo was wild too. 300-foot boss fight in a Chicago warzone. x_x

 

inFamous isn't one of those games I'd buy a system for, but I'll definitely check it out whenever I get a PS3. Seems kind of like a cross between Fable and Crackdown to an extent.

 

After pushing the legacy of the PlayStation name so much, along with PS2 continuing to be a force, it seems so silly to me to introduce an 80GB "Core" model, which I assume won't have PS2 backwards compatability. More storage for the same price is good. A lower price, and/or a return to full functionality would be better.

 

I could say the same for MS and their 60GB Pro model. Which still doesn't have WiFi, as far as I know. They push Xbox Live as a major service, and component of the 360 experience. Especially with the Netflix partnership. They throw promo movies on the console for "Wireless Accessories" and "Wireless World". Then they make you tether the console to a long-ass blue cable to get it online. Either a hassle, or impossible for a lot of people. Or they charge you $100 for a $40 USB wireless adapater. And 60GB still isn't much, especially since the system files seem to chew up about 10GB of that. Not to mention they're almost 3 years into their life cycle, and are still at $350 for the least expensive, viable SKU. I say viable, because the Arcade is still shit, and I have no idea why the 20GB model isn't replacing it, so a hard drive is at least standard. (So they can sell $100+ hard drives separately to un-informed buyers, no doubt.)

 

All of the media offerings like movies and TV doesn't mean much to me in Canada. I find they're all too expensive anyhow. If you're buying MS point cards at regular price, it costs $9.36 for a 1 or 2-day 720p movie rental on Xbox Live. And you have to wait to download it, and make sure you have room on your piddling, proprietary, over-priced hard drive. That's ridiculous.

 

There ended up being a fair bit of venomous ranting in there. How about that.

[dubq 0]

The Wii is overpriced? You're fucking nuts..