Sony:

To those whose battle cry is “They ripped off so-and-so.” Seriously, just let it go. It may suck for those that are “the faithful” but the business sense of taking something that is or is going to be successful, and use it to help your own project is flawless thinking. So let’s just take the six-degree-motion-sensor item right off the list and move on.

Now let’s talk about the real problems. The first was showing off Gran Turismo HD with nothing more than polished GT4 graphics. Sure they had a “Wow” moment here and there, but nothing that made anyone sit up and think: “Sony was right! The next Generation Starts when they say so!” 2D modeling of the people watching the race, the trees looking bleh, Sony should have just pulled it off the list, instead it left a lot of fence sittings thinking the very thing Sony accused Microsoft of: “PlayStation 2.5”

Nearly all the games that were playable just did not wow me, there was no sense of “Holy mother of god!” like last years Killzone trailer. About the only impressive part was the fact that Gran Turismo’s screens loaded in a very reasonable timeframe. So thumbs up for that.

 

Let’s call this: Ball one.

Was I the only one that noticed that while the PlayStation Network was being touted as free, the mention of free online gaming was never once mentioned? I sincerely doubt Sony would make such a screw up like that, but if they did, that would be a very big strike one on Sony, since a lot of the faithful and casual were sure that this would truly be the Xbox Live killer if it was free. Seeing as they could still go either way, I’m gonna call it Ball two.

I was almost embarrassed for Ken Kuturagi when he revealed his secret with a beaming proud smile, only to get near silence in response from the audience. The look on his face was priceless and not in a good way. The man is an engineer, and he’s very proud of the work he does and probably feels like he’s making things better, but even he didn’t anticipate that type of silence.

Here’s the biggest difference between the controller for the PS3 and the Wii, the Wii’s platform is built around it, the PS3 is an additional feature. Meaning that not all games will use it, I’m sure they can program for it easily, but considering that this type of technology is not new, and has been sold before, and didn’t catch on, I wonder if the Dual Shake will suffer the same fate.

While I don’t have a problem with the idea behind it, even IF they had this intended from the beginning, the have made themselves look like they are trying to be a little bit of everything, a jack of all trades, but a master of none. This is strike one, not because it’s a bad idea, but because the people who are watching you right now, the hardcore and the faithful, had their confidence shook just a bit because of it.

The new games items for the PSP, the GPS and VOIP capabilities, the fact that you have over 200 games in development for the PS2, and the fact that you will not shut down production of the PS2 for some time, is ball three. That you only just now shut down production of the PS1, is a testament to the wonderful system you created, and shows that as long as you show a product love, the faithful will come to it. The PS2 is a far superior system, and should have many more years of fun and entertainment. Let’s hope Microsoft learns that one in the third iteration of the Xbox consoles.

Having EA show off the new Tiger Woods game, as far as I’m concerned is strike two. This is not an EA bash; this is more a question along the lines of: “Why not just show off the exclusives?” You showed the new trailer for MGS4, which was very nice looking, and you showed off a bunch more trailers, but nothing more announced in exclusives other than what game companies have been spoon feeding us for the last couple of days? Sure that “Eight Days” game looks interesting, but it’s a trailer, and as of E3 2005, there’s a big bag of salt to be taken with any of them.

But in the end, the batter needs to put up or shut up, especially in a full count situation. Sony decides to announce it’s pricing, and quite honestly, it was exactly what I was expecting.

So let me tell you what I wasn’t expecting.

I wasn’t expecting the Two SKU nonsense that Microsoft was put to task for, that even Sony said they would never do. I wasn’t expecting that the difference between the $499 and $599 unit went WAY deeper than just 40 gigabytes of HDD space.

No HDMI, no Card Reader, no built in Wi-Fi support, all gone, with no real way to simply buy the pieces separate and add them in later. And exactly what happened to the 7.1 surround sound and the TWO HDMI ports for dual screening games? I guess in their bid to make sure all games were in TRUE HD (1080p) that someone FINALLY pointed out that “Umm.. We’d need a lot more power to run two screens in 1080p!” and thus went the stupidest “innovation” Sony came up with. Also gone are the three Ethernet ports, leaving only one gigabit port, which I approve of.

For those that thought the $299 core system from Microsoft was the biggest fuck you to the hard core fans, and nothing more than something to give to the soccer moms to be able to justify the purchase, please remember that the only difference between those systems was some flashy bling, a wireless controller, and a hard drive. While you can’t purchase the bling separately, you could get the important parts. Sony don’t just shoot the middle-finger at the hard core, they curbed them, pulled their pants down and pissed on their asses while screaming: “Take it bitch! TAKE IT!”

If they had just offered $499 and $599, with a 20 and 100 gigabyte hard drive, and that was the only difference that would have been fine. The one thing they made clear was the hard drive was upgradeable somehow, so that’s not a big deal. But they have essentially come out with two versions of the same system. And while it probably makes little difference in game play, it’s just a testament to Sony’s naiveté that they think people are just stupid idiots and will buy without thought.

Before E3, I’ve stated very clearly on many occasions that Sony has no where to go but down, and that the next generation of console wars is theirs to lose. No way was I expecting them to be this arrogant about their superiority in the current generation, and that is pitiful.

Now before you all go thinking that it’s over for Sony, it is so not. They will still sell well initially, but I foresee many speed bumps along the ways. You can forget the casual or lay gamer market for at least two years, because until the price is more reasonable, there’s no way I can see some mother walking into Best Buy, looking at the Wii for it’s price, the Xbox 360 for it’s, and the PS3 starting at $500 and think immediately: “Yes, PS3 for me!” Not when gas in the United States is almost as much as minimum wage.

The number one rule of business is location location location, but to me, the unofficial second rule should always be: “Mind the market.”, and this is not currently the market to sell expensive hardware.

November 17^th may prove me wrong.

When Miyamoto was waving his arms in his tuxedo, for a half second I almost rolled my eyes, until I noticed that he really was controlling the music. An almost DDR meets Karaoke type deal, that was a very powerful way of showing off the capabilities of the Wii.

Nintendo’s conference was subdued, not flashy, not glitzy, keeping in line with Reggie’s long held promise of kicking ass and making games and games is what they showed. They started with the Zelda demo on the Wii, looking not much graphically different than the GameCube, but the use of the controller was intriguing, and the first (and in this case the only) surprise of the night came when Reggie announced that the Wii controller had a speaker in it, so that sounds “transfer from your hand to the screen.” The example they showed was Link firing an arrow. A very cool innovation, but not really a “Wow” in my books.

Ball one.

Then Red Steel was demoed, now while this seemed like an impressive game, it was very obvious that the polish hadn’t been added just yet. Some frame issues and the like. The fully destructive environment we’ll have to see about, but does sound interesting. The part I was waiting for the most was the sword play, which look interesting, but I couldn’t really get a sense of how well it really worked.   Couple that with the bit of chop, and my interest in Red Steel has gone from “High” to “Medium”

In other words, Strike One.

Then Reggie came back, and showed off a list of titles. Love Nintendo, Hate Nintendo, you cannot tell me you didn’t feel a giddy little sense of happiness when you saw StarFox DS, or Super Mario Galaxy. That was effective, made more so by Reggie’s promise that 27 Wii games were going to be playable at E3.

That my friends is a base hit, specifically a double. Man on Second, another batter coming up.

And here comes that batter right now, Iawata talking about WiConnect24, an interesting if not potentially irritating idea, where your game saves are persistent worlds that someone can come by and defile while you sleep. Maybe I don’t as much faith in the goodness of others anymore, but this seems like something that could be very cool, and exploited too easily. The lack of information on the Virtual Console was a deafening quiet in my books.

Strike One.

Oh but then they had to bring Miyamoto back. And can I just say that Miyamoto can bring a smile to my face just on the level of his enthusiasm? This is a guy who probably has literally been there and done that with gaming and his a good 14 years older than me, but darn if he doesn’t still look like he’s having the time of his life.

He demos tennis, with gusto and enthusiasm, and then he tops it, by bringing out Reggie, Iawata, and a lucky bastard from the audience to play four on four. And while at first it looked ridiculous, as it went on, and the genuine smiles appeared on all four participants faces, how could you as a gamer NOT get excited about the idea?

That right there folks is a home run.  That’s how you play it cool, and show what you got.

The score so far is: Sony 0, Nintendo 2, but stepping up to the plate is the other big gun of E3.

Where Nintendo knows how to wrap up an event, Microsoft certainly knows how to start one. At first it seemed like it was just another trailer for Gears of War, until Cliffy B came out to show you one of the early levels of the game.

 

Oh. My. God.

The level was short, and that’s about the only criticism I have. The little cinematic nods, the amazing visuals, the detail of body parts and blood flying everywhere, and not a single frame stutter that I saw.

Base hit ladies and gentlemen, a good start; let’s call this one a double.

Out comes Peter Moore, that man has a bottle of enthusiasm that he must drink from every not, the man is perfectly unflappable. Anyway he starts talking about market share, about what’s coming, what the future holds.

Nothing about right now, this was curious. Why not talk about units sold, why was everything tomorrow or next year or something?

Strike one Microsoft.

Then the games started coming into play, specifically the montage of different Live Arcade Games, with a bit of a surprise announcement that Lumines was coming to Live Arcade. Along with a personal favorite arcade classic, Time Pilot. To hell with people saying the Xbox 360 is a Trojan horse, it’s not, Live Arcade IS. While the list was nice, there were still a lot of unanswered questions. Has anyone besides me noticed that when it comes to launch dates for Live Arcade titles, it’s either vague, or always a date that’s never achieved?

Ball one.

Now we get to the meat of the montages, Lost Planet, Table Tennis, Too Human, Mass Effect (Bioware, I love you! PLEASE LET ME INTERVIEW YOU ABOUT THIS GAME!), among others. Very very impressive.   That being said, with the exception of the above titles, nothing else really grabbed me, I’m sure I’ll try out Viva Piñata, but its concept still is lost on me.

Let’s give it Ball two. Boy that man on second is getting bored eh?

Then Peter announced the Wireless Racing Wheel with Force Feedback, the wireless headset that looked like a Bluetooth headset, and the Live Vision camera. Now we knew the camera was coming, but that headset and Racing wheel are looking mighty nice to me.

BAM, shit! The pitcher beamed the batter in the head. Take your base! Man on First and second.

Let’s see, Blue Dragon? Curious. DOA Extreme 2? Itagacki you’re a pervert! Let’s just move on. Viva Piñata?? Guys I understand what you’re trying to do, but you can’t just create a franchise, it has to just happen. Good luck with that but from the trying angle:

Ball One.

Ahh the HD-DVD player, it compliments the Box very nicely, but there’s no price or release date yet. (I think it’s cool that you it has two USB ports on the back, and you now attach your wireless dongle to it instead of your Xbox 360)

Nice design yes, lack of price and release date: Ball two.

Then the ol’ tattoo,   Grand Theft Auto 4, released the same date as the PS3 version. No more exclusives, except it seems for episodic content.

Normally that would be a base hit, but since I have to now sing as Eric Cartmen, I’m giving them Ball three.

They moved onto Windows games, and frankly, I feel asleep. I’ve moved away from Windows and I don’t intend on going back anytime soon. They would have to do something pretty big to make me ever consider using Windows as a gaming platform again.

Then Bill Gates comes out, and all I can think is: Dude, the Emperor is by the moon of Endor! Nah that’s just so wrong, I can’t really hate a guy who gives billions every year to the hungry and homeless.

Anyway, Live Anywhere. In a few words: Base Hit, specifically a double, but only one man scores, man on second and third now.

Now let’s push aside the big brother angle for a minute, because frankly, if you own a cell phone, big brother is watching you. If you have a credit card, big brother is watching you, if you surf the internet, big brother is watching you. This idea of using your GamerTag to play on Windows, or on Xbox 360, or on a cell phone, is a very intriguing notion. Scheduling downloads from your work PC, or your Cell phone? Come on, you have to admit that’s neat. Upgrading/repainting your Forza car? Designing game levels? All this is now possible from anywhere.

A-maz-ing.

Now it was pointed out in the comments that I softballed (pun intended) the score for Live Anyware to give Nintendo the win.  Let me be clear, I gave a base hit to Live Anyware because it's a product with incredible potential.

But it's not here yet, and won't be until after Vista has come out.  It's no different than the slide Sony showed of the PS2 having AOL on it.  Now granted I believe that this will actually come to fruition, but until then it's just a pipe dream, and impressive sounding.

I gave Nintendo the home run, because they SHOWED the controller working, not a bunch of slides explaning how.  So yes, they get a point because it has incredible potential, and was easily my favorite non-game item described by Microsoft, but it doesn't competely exist yet.

My original score stands: Base hit, scoring one run.

With all that said and done, the lights dim, and Peter and Bill leave the stage with a snippet from Halo 3.

Eh.

Guys I love Halo 3, and while the idea of where the story is going intrigues me, to me, it’s no different than any of the other in-game cinematic’s that Hideo Kojima is showing. Sure it’s beautiful, but it tells us really nothing about the game play, or how the multiplayer will work. It’s a nice tease, and of course I’m looking forward to the title, but I almost would have been happier had it just been some concept photos and some voice-overs to really get us excited.   In other words a real tease, not a small part of the Halo 3 engine, with nothing substantial about the game.

That’s a ball, simple because while it tickled my fancy, it didn’t force me down on the floor and beg for more.

So the final score of this E3 was:

Sony 0, Nintendo 2, Microsoft 1.


Everyone I talked to about the big three felt the same way, Sony dropped the ball big time, and it was almost as if they came to E3 unprepared with nothing more than a price and a feeling of superiority. Sony, I hope that kick to the balls didn’t hurt too much, but put you in your place, and made you realize that you may actually have to EARN the victory this time around.

My suggestion to Sony would be to lay the cards on the table, tell us EVERYTHING about the PS3 that justifies the expense. Not the bullshit you’ve been telling the news. Yes, I know Blu-Ray is a new technology, I know that the Cell is new technology, but that’s not good enough, because you are asking us to pay for not just new, but UNPROVEN technology. You need more bells and whistles in there to make us want to come along for the ride. It sounds like you have lots of plans for the PS3, tell us them, so that when the time comes to choose we can say, “Yes, for all Sony is giving me right out of the box, $599 is reasonable.”

Until you do, you have a big shot at losing this round, and for your company that could be a crippling blow.

Nintendo brought fun back to gaming in a small way. Sure the idea of interacting with a game isn’t new, but it is for home, and that’s just neat. I think what Nintendo needs to do most is help its third party developers understand the Wii controller better. It seems that they are going for the easy idea, the FPS, the Madden hutt hutt deal, where as your little Orchestra conducting at the beginning should be what you are asking from them. Innovative titles that showcase the controller, and improve the game play experience.

You can easily win this generation, but you’ll only keep the hard core if you branch out, and help third party to give you games you may have not thought of.

Microsoft was all business, with a bit of flash, and they handled themselves much better this year compared to last year. Was it because they actually had some surprises to give? Was it because they had some excellent games to show? A bit of both actually. What they need to do now is convince the Japanese developers to not give up, that Sony has shown weakness that could cost them in America and Europe and perhaps even Japan now. The need to shore up more exclusives instead of being the “We got, or a derivative of that game!”

In short, you have the chance to take the lead, and dominate the market; don’t screw it up because Sony is not going to take this loss easily. They will come back swinging, they have to.

And that’s my impression of the three conferences.

Please let me know how badly you think I did.  Or you can listen to me talk about it on "The Widget Show" podcast on Monday. 

Semper Fi!