By most counts Microsoft “won” E3 2009. The shear number of announcements was dizzying. From Project Natal, to Twitter & Facebook integration (you can take in-game screenshots to post online), to LastFM, Sky & Zune integration, to having the actual Beetles on stage during the Rock Band Beetles unveiling (or represented by their respective partners for those no longer with us), the volume of announcements and hype set the bar ridiculously high. They even had a pretty steller line up of games to go with all the other non game related announcements with Splinter Cell, Forza 3, Left for Dead 2, Alan Wake, Metal Gear Rising and Mass Effect 2 getting plenty of attention! But it was Project Natal, which seems to be an EyeToy like “controller” on steroids that gained the most hype. It proves that even though Nintendo were and still are rubbished for their motion control, motion controls are here to stay. Now that Microsoft and Sony both have camera based solutions soon we’ll all be flapping and waving our way through games.
Overall Microsoft ticked more boxes than people new existed to tick. Still, in possibly the best E3 ever even the “losers” had plenty to show. Sonys internal team, Naughty Dog, demo’d what was considered by many to be the game of the show with Uncharted 2. They showed an incredible action sequence that showed Nathan Drake and his new partner Chloe, making their way through a collapsing building while under heavy attack from a helicopter gunship. The entire building tilts and all it’s contents, protagonists included, start sliding out of it. It was nothing short of incredible. How did these guys go from churning out generic platformers like Crash Bandicoot to producing such stunning action packed, adventure titles like Uncharted?! This title gained more hype than even God of War III, GT5, The Last Guardian, Heavy Rain and MAG which altogether made for a pretty strong showing.
Nintendo even managed to surprise everyone with their Team Ninja fueled Metroid reboot and nobody saw the 2D side scrolling four player and awkwardly titled “New Super Mario Brothers Wii” coming?! Can’t wait for the sequel “New Super Mario Brothers Wii 2”?! They also showed Super Mario Galaxy 2 which was looking even better than ever and is the first time there’s been two 3D Super Mario games in one hardware generation.
So all in all a pretty spectacular show and a great year or two ahead for gamers with all these games and others like Bioshock 2, Final Fantasy XIII and XIV, Assassins Creed 2, White Knight Chronicles, Modern Warfare 2 and much much more coming soon! Here’s 1 Up’s list of the best of E3 2009.
Ross mentioned the other day that it would be cool to have a blog to update everyone about your gaming progress, major achievements and just general kickarsery and antics in video gaming! Just somewhere to post those achievements that certainly don’t require a full on blog post or even an email but somewhere where you can say a little more than what you can fit on your gamercard. My first thought was Twitter. Nick mentioned it the other day and Dean’s an addict of it and I’ve often wondered if there was any actual use for it myself and this may just be one such use. Also, as we found out recently, Microsoft are integrating Twitter into the New New Xbox experience before the end of the year. I don’t think PS3 users will be getting this kind of integration any time soon (sure you can just use the PS3’s browser but you have to quit what you’re doing first) but the iPod Touch is an excellent twatter-bleeping device so Ross and I will be covered 🙂 So maybe now is the time to jump on the bandwagon?
Friday Night Gamers' Blog 