After E3: Wrap-up Thoughts
This year’s E3 has been sort of a mixed bag. Although we were treated with the mega bombshell slap-Sony-in-the-face announcement of Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox360, the rest of the expo teetered on boring. Microsoft had little to say about their future (which was partially their own fault by pulling the plug on the announcement of Bungie’s secret next project), Nintendo gave their die-hard faithfuls a box of tissues, and Sony had little to say that was actually new. The conference became more of an event for the mainstream and less of an event for the enthusiast; fewer marquee games, more of an emphasis on the sales and revenue. E3 is no longer the spectacle it once was. Despite this, there were still a few good things to emerge from the ashes of the old conference and there are some clear industry trends that stuck out more to me this year than others.
One of the themes of this year’s E3 has been convergence. Both Microsoft and Sony’s consoles are slowly becoming more than just gaming platforms- they’re now becoming broader multimedia platforms as well. Microsoft’s partnership with Netflix and Sony’s inclusion of HD/SD movie programming to its store are turning both of the consoles into a sort of multiplexer for entertainment media, both of which will be very welcome features to their respective audiences. While I do not think that individual media players will disappear because of this, the thought of having less technology under the television is certainly an appealing one. How long will it be until we see the actual movie box office integrated into our gaming systems?
The continued rise of music games is the next big theme of the conference as Nintendo joined the fray with Activision’s Guitar Hero World Tour and Harmonix’ Rock band. Shane Bettenhausen on 1up Yours described the trend of how important it was to get one’s instrument peripherals into the homes of consumers as the plastic drum set cold war. Although the music genre has long since been a vehicle for the casual market to get into gaming, the Guitar Hero franchise seems to be taking the series in a more hardcore direction by allowing the player to create new songs. Newcomer Nintendo is seemingly trying to take up the mantle of “casual music game” by removing the instruments from the game and replacing it with Wiimote/nunchuk pantomiming while removing the game aspects of the genre by having it be subject to “Nintendo Fairness”, the phenomena where everyone has an equal chance of winning (see Mario Kart Wii’s power up system). While Nintendo’s idea isn’t fully baked just yet, the potential for something truly great is possible with Wii Music, despite its laughable and embarassing presentation at E3.
The notion of accessibility and being easy to get into was also prominent at this year’s conference. With Xbox Live’s new interface, It is very clear that Microsoft wants some of the casual market pie that Nintendo owns. Nintendo’s continuing along with it’s Wii-game series with Wii-Resort and Wii Music, two very simple and straight forward games targeted at the masses. Both Sony and Microsoft are doing the movie-through-the-console thing. Everyone’s a gamer now to some degree and the Big 3 all want to capitalize on their presence.
The shifting of focus from the core to the casual gamer meant that a lot of the show just wasn’t meant for us, the rabid fanbase. Chris Kohler of Wired Game|Life wrote up a satirical article on how the Nintendo Conference should have been. Funny stuff, and I definitely think it would have worked out better if it happened the way Chris lays it out. But I concede that we aren’t E3′s intended audience.
Whilst sorting through all of the doom and gloom news to come out of E3 2008, I was pleasantly surprised to find that a couple of my predictions were actually on target. More retro remakes of games? Check: Galaga Legions! Rez for PSN? Not really, but the demo of Flower by thatgamecompany looks like an absolute dreamscape of an experience similar to the Rez experience. Final Fantasy XIII mention? Boom, bombshell, Xbox360 bound. I guess the last two don’t really count, but I think it’s close enough to actually squeak out a win. As for Earthbound for VC and Kid Icarus? Salty tears indeed.
But even so, there were a couple of games that interested me from this year’s show. Here’s my Top 5 games I look forward to playing because of E3:
- Little Big Planet – The most right game of this generation; the first user generated social networking game? Admittedly, I didn’t pay that much to this game before. But there was something about the inclusion of LBP in Sony’s press conference and seeing the castles built from playing in that sandbox that just flipped a switch in my head. Plus, you might be able to sell your creations as a level builder.
- Fat Princess – This game is on my list because it looks hilarious. A combination of Team Fortress 2, Zelda, and Rampart, this game looks like it would be an absolute riot to play with other folks. If it only had voice chat…
- Flower – I’ve heard of this game only once before and paid no attention to it because I was not a fan of fl0w. After seeing the video and hearing everyone praise the game, my old sentiments changed. And there’s something innately soothing about flying through a field collecting petals.
- PixelJunk Eden – Another chill out game that tugs at all my artistic strings. This and Flower both round out PSN’s ownership of the artsy, experimental game-o-sphere. Can’t wait for it to come out at the end of the month.
- Megaman 9 – I need not say too much here. I am, however, glad to hear that the demo at E3 was deviously hard.
