2006 E3 Hoopla

Post by **pyrella** » May 8, 2006, 8:52 pm

Put it here.

I don't have time to cruise through all the sites I normally get to, but would love some highlights. Show me the funny!

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » May 8, 2006, 11:47 pm

We're broadcasting the Sony Press conference in GameTap in 45 mins.

I havent seen it yet but supposedly it was pretty compelling. Looking forward to watching it live.

We've got Nintendo and MS tomorrow, and Wed and Thur live stuff from the floor all day, including Space Ghost interviewing people.

Supposedly Square's FF footage was ridiculously cool for PS3.

Sony was an hour late getting their conference started, but if they can get enough buzz out of this week, they might stem the XBox tide. we shall see....

and Wii....i dont get it...i mean Revolution is not a bad name, so "Wii" must be compelling in Japanese, but it is a TERRIBLE name in English...

anyways

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 3:49 am

Here's the PS3 info. Biggest thing I see is that they opted for a controller that looks more like the PS2's instread of the boomerang:

Sony to launch PS3 video game console at $499 By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Lisa Baertlein
28 minutes ago

Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). said on Monday it would begin selling its PlayStation 3 video game console in November for $499 in North America, challenging Microsoft Corp.'s early dominance in the market for next-generation machines.

Sony won the previous generation battle as its PS2 outsold the original Xbox, but Microsoft is expected to capitalize on a head start to at least gain ground this time with its Xbox 360 console in a global gaming industry expected to generate about $30 billion in revenue this year.

Sony's standard PS3 will have a 20-gigabyte hard drive and debut on November 11 in Japan and November 17 in most of the rest of the world. The unit will retail for 59,800 yen ($536) in Japan and 499 euros ($634) in Europe.

The Japanese electronics giant also showed off a motion-sensitive wireless controller, a feature similar to the controllers being offered by Nintendo Co. Ltd. in its upcoming Wii game machine.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said the price was competitive and the controller would be reason enough for many gamers to wait for the PS3 rather than buy Microsoft's Xbox 360, which was launched late last year.

"I think they are going to kick Microsoft's butt," he said after Sony showed off the controller in a news conference ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the largest video game show in the world which begins later this week.

Video game fans have been waiting to see what Sony would offer, and especially at what price, in order to decide whether to wait for the PS3 or buy an Xbox 360 now.

$600 BARGAIN?

Sony will also sell a PS3 with a 60-gigabyte hard drive for $599 in the United States. All Sony's units will include a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player. Microsoft's premium Xbox 360 package, which does not include an advanced DVD player and has a 20-gigabyte hard drive, costs $400, by comparison.

"As just a game console it is expensive, but not if you think about it as an entertainment center," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments. "The price may be somewhat tough for Sony. If you consider the costs, the price probably should be higher."

The larger hard drive allows users to store more games, music and other downloaded content onto the PS3, while some software developers said the extra storage capacity allowed the machine to load games faster.

Sony's Bluetooth-powered motion-sensitive wireless controller is shaped like the controller for the current generation machine, but the advanced controller can shift objects in games when a player moves the unit, without pushing buttons. In a demonstration, a virtual duck lifted out of a tub of water when the controller was jerked upward.

Sony expects to hit the market with 2 million PS3 consoles at launch and a total of 4 million by the end of December 2006. Analysts expect Microsoft to ship up to 8 million Xbox 360 units before Sony launches the PS3.

Ken Kutaragi, Sony's game unit head, also known as the "father of the PlayStation," told Reuters that this would be a huge year for the video game industry and Microsoft's early advantage was not a great concern.

"We have not paid much attention to market share in the past, and that is still the case," Kutaragi said on the sidelines of the Sony news conference.

The success of the PS3 is crucial for Sony as a company.

At stake is not only continued dominance in the game industry but leadership in the next generation of DVDs, the commercial viability of the Cell processor that powers the PS3 and possibly control over the future living-room electronics around the world.

It's also an expensive bet.

Tokyo-based Sony plans to take a 100 billion yen operating loss at its game division in the current fiscal year due to costs related to the PS3 launch. Game machines manufacturers often lose money on the initial sale, but recoup those losses over the life of the product through software sales.

"Unless there are some amazing launch titles that turn up in the next six months, I think it's going to be pretty tough going for Sony," said Hiroshi Kamide, game analyst for KBC Securities. "It's still going to lose money hand over fist at these prices."

Shares of Sony fell 50 yen, or 0.88 percent, to 5,610 yen in afternoon trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

(Additional reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi and Kemp Powers in Los Angeles, David Dolan in Tokyo)

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 4:01 am

News from Square Enix. Those bastards are making Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 so I might have to buy one. It sounds like the contract isn't exclusie though and Square Enix has something else in the works for the Xbox 360:

Square Enix to offer "Dragon Quest" for Wii launch 40 minutes ago

Japanese video game maker Square Enix Co. Ltd. (9684.T) said on Monday it will offer the latest installment of its hugely popular "Dragon Quest" series in time for the launch of Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) new Wii console.

The game is expected to benefit Nintendo's next-generation machine since having a wide range of popular software available at the time of the launch is considered crucial for success in the game console market.

Nintendo plans to release the Wii by the end of the year, setting the stage for a three-way battle with Microsoft Corp's (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Xbox 360 and Sony Corp's (6758.T) upcoming PlayStation 3.

The title of the blockbuster role-playing game is "Dragon Quest Swords," and a video clip shown at a news conference ahead of this week's Electronic Entertainment Expo showed players swinging Wii video controllers.

A key feature of the Wii is its one-handed controller that looks like a television remote control and has motion-detection sensors so players can control the game by wielding it like a sword, waving it like a conductor's baton, or swinging it like a baseball bat.

Square Enix also said it is developing its "Final Fantasy XIII" for PS3, which will be launched on November 11 in Japan and on November 17 in most of the rest of the world.

"Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy" are two of Square Enix's most popular software titles.

"As long as we put the name Final Fantasy on it, we are determined to make it something that extracts the full potential of the console," Yoshinori Kitase, a Final Fantasy producer, told reporters.

Sony's PS3 will be powered by ultra-fast microprocessor Cell, dubbed a "supercomputer on a chip" and co-developed with International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) and Toshiba Corp. (6502.T)

Square Enix's corporate planning department head Michihiro Sasaki said "Final Fantasy XIII" is likely to be developed only for the PS3 and for mobile phones.

However, he did not completely rule out the possibility of a version for Xbox 360.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » May 9, 2006, 4:12 am

$600 for a PS3 is pretty hardcore. Sony will lose sales to MS and Nintendo at that price point, but will ultimately win next generation as well with a superior lineup of games. The shit Sony showed at their press conference obliterates anything the 360 can do, and will bend any stupid toy Nintendo comes up with over the radiator and fuck it silly.

$600 for a machine you will use for hundreds and hundreds of hours is a good investment. Playstation's key demographic is still relatively young people with lots of disposable income. People are already saying they won't spend $500-600 on a console, but they will if it has games they want to play on it. If I paid $2000 for my PS2 it still would have been a worthwhile investment. If Sony pulls this price point off they will really be ripping open pandora's box about how much people will pay for a console.

Plus it will play the nine or ten beta ray movies that will come out.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 4:23 am

Here's a better picture of the PS3 controller. Looks like the lower front paddles keys might also be triggers which would be nice. Otherwise it's pretty much the same as the old design but wireless along with the motion sensing. Good move on Sony's part keeping the general feel/look of the remote the same as the PS2's.

E3 06: Hands-on with the final PS3 controller
We get our grubby mitts on Sony's new controller and you know what? It feels pretty good.

LOS ANGELES--At last year's E3, Sony displayed a prototype controller for its upcoming console, the PlayStation 3. The boomerang-shaped wireless device was something of a lightning rod, and didn't seem like it was terribly well-received. This year, Sony has unveiled the final controller, and it should look pretty familiar.

The PS3's controller now looks roughly like a Dual Shock 2. The size and button placement seems identical. But there are a handful of key differences. You'll feel right at home when you pick it up, but this controller has definitely evolved.

For starters, it's wireless and startlingly lightweight. The Bluetooth device has a mini-USB plug on it, presumably for charging. The L2 and R2 triggers are analog and feel quite nice. There's a new central button that has the PlayStation logo on it. It doesn't seem to be functional, but it seems like a likely spot for some sort of "home" or "menu' button.

The biggest change is inside the controller. There are motion-sensing gyroscopes inside the controller that will detect tilting as well as raising and lowering. We get the feeling that wii've seen this in another upcoming console, but we'll save that discussion for message boards or something. Warhawk is one of the games that supports the tilt sensor, and it feels surprisingly tight and easy to use. Flying the plane by tilting the controller is very intuitive.

One thing you won't find in this new controller is force feedback. The rumble feature was said to interfere with the motion sensing devices. Sony's Phil Harrison even went so far as to tell us that "rumble was last generation, movement is this generation."

We also managed to bump into Criterion's Alex Ward at Sony's grand unveiling, and he said he was really excited about the controller, saying that he "can really see how it fits in his games." We imagine a Burnout game can't be too far behind.

So if you wanted to be a cynic, you could say that this is a wireless PS2 controller with analog triggers like the Xbox, a central guide button like the Xbox 360, and internal motion sensors like the Wii. But what's probably most important is that the controller feels pretty nice and already seems to work well.

By Jeff Gerstmann -- GameSpot
Posted May 8, 2006 9:20 pm PT

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 4:35 am

OK, last one from me for a bit. Here's a link to the Sony press conference if you want to watch it:

http://www.gamespot.com/e3/e3story.html?sid=6149470

I just finished watching this two hour conference. The most impressive thing I saw demonstrated was the motion sensing of the controller. It looks like they've got it down and that could make a big difference in games as plane flying looks like it's very easy to control as the example given and I can see it used easily for other movement.

Sucks to say it but with Sony stealing the analog triggers and middle live button from the Xbox controller and including a better version of Nintendo's motion control, it looks like they have the best Next Gen controller.

The audience seemed like they were asleep but it was probably poor placement of microphones.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 10:44 am

Frankly, FF being PS exclusives isn't much of a concern for me anymore.

The last FF game I've really enjoyed was FF9, FFX was a huge dissapointment I've owned both FFX and FFX-2 for about 18 months, never finished X and haven't touched X-2.

I've thrown my lot with the 360 at this point and odds are I won't be getting the PS3 regardless of the bling.

I'm looking forward to seeing Nintendo and MS's press conferences though.

*edit* The FFXIII trailer is about 1h34minutes into the press conference if you wanted to go over to Gamespot and check it out. Now I may be wrong but I believe I saw a fucking Gun-Blade in there too.

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » May 9, 2006, 11:34 am

Christ, it's good to get news on progress of the PS3. With all the bad press on it lately, I was beginning to think it was urban legend.

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » May 9, 2006, 11:37 am

One thing you won't find in this new controller is force feedback. The rumble feature was said to interfere with the motion sensing devices. Sony's Phil Harrison even went so far as to tell us that "rumble was last generation, movement is this generation."

Hahahahaha. Oh yeah, and you're still getting sued over patent infringement for your old rumble system.

Harrison is such a twat.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » May 9, 2006, 11:49 am

Square is going to develope for PC i think , so that is the reason for no exclusivity. Developing on PS3 is more like developing for a PC than the other systems.

Secondly $600 is not a crazy price.

It has a Blue Ray disc player... hello....

Sony is takign a loss on this product to win the format war, and they will strike a mighty blow to that effect in November.

Nintendo has positioned themselves very interestingly though, $199 for their system, and they will make money on every unit they sell. Sony and MS lose money on every unit they sell with their next gens. I think MS still hasnt made a nickel on an original XBox yet by itself. The unit is profitable, but because of the licensing and accessories.

yeah and the FF footage was amazing. I've never even played a FF title and i was pretty wowed by it.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 12:16 pm

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3150521

PlayStation 3: What Sony Doesn't Want You to Know
Lower price means no Wi-Fi, HDMI, memory slots.
by Patrick Klepek, 05/08/2006

During their conference this evening, Sony mentioned they would be releasing two PlayStation 3 hardware packages this November. They emphasized the logical differences between the hard drives, but failed to mention the other features that drop if consumers pick up the $499 model over the more expensive $599 machine.

As it turns out, a little examining of Sony's announcement press release reveals the $499 model will lack support for Memory Sticks, SD and Compact Flash cards, no built-in Wi-Fi and will surprisingly have the HDMI output removed (necessary for achieving the much bragged about 1080p screen resolution).

Looks like the folks looking for a deal and buying the 499$ version of the PS3 won't be getting much more than standard TV gaming for a pretty steep price.

At least with the 360 everything that is in the core system can be purchased as an addon later on(ie wireless controllers/HDD etc).

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » May 9, 2006, 12:21 pm

I am not too sure about that controller. I may be in the minority, but I didn't like the PS2 controllers. The analog stick placement caused blisters on the outside of my thumbs during long gaming days. Also, I can already see all of the problems that the "motion-sensing" gyros can be a part of. I mean, it's cool that they probably looked at people playing games and noticed that almost everyone moves the controller when they want to do something which involves movement more urgent than your standard left/right/up/down/etc..

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 12:48 pm

Animalor wrote:Frankly, FF being PS exclusives isn't much of a concern for me anymore.

The last FF game I've really enjoyed was FF9, FFX was a huge dissapointment I've owned both FFX and FFX-2 for about 18 months, never finished X and haven't touched X-2.

Opinions vary quite a bit on FF games. FFX was one of the best games I've ever played. I got into that story and sucked into the world more than most. I liked the advancement system, combat system, music, characters, and the cut scenes were first rate for their time as well as the overall story. 10/10

Voro,

If Mirosoft actually does offer the HD-DVD upgrade to 360 owners for 100.00, Sony isn't going to have that big advantage.

Also, if the note abouve about the 499.00 version not having HDMI/WiFi is true then you really are looking at a 600.00 base price for the system. I'll snap one up as soon as I can get my hands on one (it's the same price as an E3 ticket afterall) but 600.00 is too freaking high for the little people and some moms and dads that don't give a shit so JR's out of luck with that price tag.

I'm looking for differences in gaming play and the motion sensors built into the PS3 controller look to have great potential...won't know until some more reviews come out though.

I was impressed with Grand Turismo-HD's Grand Canyon track. I thought GT-HD looked better than Project Gothem 3 from the video.

I suppose we should wait for Microsoft's press conference to see if they have any surprises. Sony is claiming 2 million units for the November Launch but I'll believe it when I see it. We also need to see if most of those are the cheesy 499.00 version or the "open price market" 599.00 or higher version. I can see thses things going for 1,000.00 for several months as Sony is allowing open pricing on their high end model. Microsoft will have 8 million units out in consumer's hands by then with a possible price drop and cheap HD-DVD solution.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 1:01 pm

Winnow wrote:
Animalor wrote:Frankly, FF being PS exclusives isn't much of a concern for me anymore.

The last FF game I've really enjoyed was FF9, FFX was a huge dissapointment I've owned both FFX and FFX-2 for about 18 months, never finished X and haven't touched X-2.
Opinions vary quite a bit on FF games. FFX was one of the best games I've ever played. I got into that story and sucked into the world more than most. I liked the advancement system, combat system, music, characters, and the cut scenes were first rate for their time as well as the overall story. 10/10

As I had stated, the last FF that did this for me was FFIX. I thought the overall story was great. That tagged with a lot of visual elements from FF1 really brought things together is a sweet package.

The FFX story overall just left me ho-hum to say the least. I got to Mt. Gagazet and kinda never popped it in again.

Winnow wrote: Also, if the note abouve about the 499.00 version not having HDMI/WiFi is true then you really are looking at a 600.00 base price for the system.

I read an observation on this earlier and I have no idea what to make of it so I'll have you guys take a crack at it (Winnow will know this most liekly). If they've taken out the HDMI controller in the 499$ unit, when won't it make that version of the PS3 unable to actually play Blu-Ray movies anyways?

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » May 9, 2006, 1:47 pm

Winnow, 80% of studios are leaning towards Blu Ray (per Sony).

Nintendo's opening 'sizzle real' for the Wii was PHENOMENAL...

i have been trashing this system and controller for months, and every one of our game testers is watching this, and loves it.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 1:50 pm

No offical street date or price yet from the Big N. Only 4th quarter 2k6.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 1:52 pm

Voronwë wrote:Winnow, 80% of studios are leaning towards Blu Ray (per Sony).

Not all of those studios are exclusively Blu Ray. Some are doing both and I don't think any have ruled out either except Sony of course.

Don't forget dual drives will be common sooner than the DVD+R-R were. This is going to take years to take off and by then dual/drives will be standard.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 1:57 pm

they're doing a "how to play" with the next Zelda game in the Wii Remote and the nunchuck.

Zelda will be available for Wii @ Launch date.

*edit* wow. Rumble pack, motion sensor and speaker in the remote and motion sensor in the 'chuck

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » May 9, 2006, 2:08 pm

Madden 07 for it as well.

Sonic, Rayman, Metroid, FF...

I got to say, i think i was so wrong about this product....

27 games playable at the show...

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 2:16 pm

Voronwë wrote:Madden 07 for it as well.

Sonic, Rayman, Metroid, FF...

I got to say, i think i was so wrong about this product....

27 games playable at the show...

I'm seriously starting to think I was wrong as well. You see that Red Steel demo? That was impressive.

Post by **Sylvus** » May 9, 2006, 2:21 pm

I'm assuming both Blu Ray/HD DVD (and the combo players that come out) will be able to play old school dvds?

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 2:39 pm

That Wii Tennis match was hilarious.

*edit*
The Nintendo press event was much much better than the Sony one.
My enthusiasm kinda died down during the DS stuff however overall the Wii product looks really really solid and the title lineup, what really kid oriented, has some very decent titles in it as well.

Anyone else catch the title of that racing game "ExciteTruck" =P

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 3:00 pm

Sylvus wrote:I'm assuming both Blu Ray/HD DVD (and the combo players that come out) will be able to play old school dvds?

Yes. You'll be able to read oldschool DVDs.

As for Wii, I hear the opening was cool but the presentation got boring pretty fast. The comments from the blog I was reading said the Zelda game looked pretty cool but nothing else was that impressive.

I still see Nintendo as a distant third with old graphics and gimmicks.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 3:04 pm

Winnow wrote:
Sylvus wrote:I'm assuming both Blu Ray/HD DVD (and the combo players that come out) will be able to play old school dvds?
Yes. You'll be able to read oldschool DVDs.

As for Wii, I hear the opening was cool but the presentation got boring pretty fast. The comments from the blog I was reading said the Zelda game looked pretty cool but nothing else was that impressive.

I still see Nintendo as a distant third with old graphics and gimmicks.

Past the Wii stuff it did get boring. Mostly DS and other technologies.
Nintendo's president isn't the most intersting person in the world as a speaker that's for damned sure.

Frankly I would only see them as a third because they have a console. Their market aren't the hardcore gamers, it's the non-gamers and the folks that used to be gamers but that stopped playing along the way. I personally know a lot of people like this. If they manage to get a lot of those people, they will do well.

Looking forward to the 360 stuff. 55 mins to go.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 3:47 pm

Anyone have a link with a stream to the MS event. It's started and the Gamespot video feed hasn't opened yet.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » May 9, 2006, 3:53 pm

I don't use my PS2 enough to justify buying a ps3. Not to mention I will most likely be buying my next Madden for the PC instead.

Sumdaor · Post by **Sumdaor** » May 9, 2006, 3:57 pm

If Mirosoft actually does offer the HD-DVD upgrade to 360 owners for 100.00,

If I spend 599 for a PS3 with a blue ray player. Why do I want to upgrade my 360? Is it going to be required for most games in a year? If it is, thats pretty shitty! The games are already 60 dollars, thats one hella expensive accessory.

I would consider myself the average user, and I could care less about having both a hd-dvd and blue ray player in the next year. All I want is my video games to look great and play even better. I don't want $100 required addon's either. I won't pay that much for a player unless its mandatory to play a game that I ~must~ have.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 4:20 pm

Sumdaor wrote:
If Mirosoft actually does offer the HD-DVD upgrade to 360 owners for 100.00,
If I spend 599 for a PS3 with a blue ray player. Why do I want to upgrade my 360? Is it going to be required for most games in a year? If it is, thats pretty shitty! The games are already 60 dollars, thats one hella expensive accessory.

I would consider myself the average user, and I could care less about having both a hd-dvd and blue ray player in the next year. All I want is my video games to look great and play even better. I don't want $100 required addon's either. I won't pay that much for a player unless its mandatory to play a game that I ~must~ have.

HD-DVD isn't required for anything except watching HD-DVD movies. All Xbox 360 games will be released on DVD9's which hold about 8GB of info.

Microsoft already said they won't require HD-DVD.

BTW, I was at my local Fry's Electronics store yesterday and they had the Blu-Ray blank media for sale...$24.00 a disc....ouch! You can buy two Blu Ray blank media or a 100GB hard drive for same price. $1/GB for Blu Ray media isn't going to cut it.

It will be interesting if they can get the Blu Ray Blank media down to around 10.00 each. I haven't seen pricing on HD-DVD media.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 4:28 pm

Holy shit..

GTA4 XBox 360 ONLY Oct 16th 2007

*edit* I fucked up on the year. GTA4 comes out in 2007

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 4:33 pm

Animalor wrote:Holy shit..

GTA4 XBox 360 ONLY Oct 16th 2k6

Yeah, that's a nice start to the 360 conference : )

Here's the updating blog:

http://www.gamespot.com/e3/e3story.html?sid=6149698

Microsoft's Conference > Sony/Nintendo's Conferences

Waran · Post by **Waran** » May 9, 2006, 4:49 pm

GTA4 only on the 360 is definitely the big shocker of the announcements so far. Wonder how much bank MS whored out to Rockstar to be exclusive.

Great blog link Winnow!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 4:57 pm

Waran wrote:GTA4 only on the 360 is definitely the big shocker of the announcements so far. Wonder how much bank MS whored out to Rockstar to be exclusive.

Great blog link Winnow!

Wow. Live Anywhere. Games with simultamious releases on Vista and the 360 will be Live aware and acheivments will be shared between both platforms.

I wonder if this means cross-platform multiplayer will be coming down the pipes soon between PC players and 360 players.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 4:59 pm

the Gamespot blog wrote:
12:54: I get the official Rockstar Games announcement of Grand Theft Auto IV in my e-mail--it says that the game will be release simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PS3. Moore said it was coming to 360 first. What the...?

What the...? indeed.

Waran · Post by **Waran** » May 9, 2006, 4:59 pm

Animalor beat me to it hehe

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 5:03 pm

12:54: I get the official Rockstar Games announcement of Grand Theft Auto IV in my e-mail--it says that the game will be release simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PS3. Moore said it was coming to 360 first. What the...?

I guess exclusive to Xbox 360 meant that it won't be on old Xbox, not the PS3. That's not that big a deal then...but it will be out on 360 in October and no date announced for PS3...Sony didn't announce it as a release title. That may get quite a few peeps to buy an Xbox 360 as they'll have to wait 3-4 months maybe to get it on PS3.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 5:04 pm

I post, therefore I am

Chidoro · Post by **Chidoro** » May 9, 2006, 5:06 pm

Sumdaor wrote: Why do I want to upgrade my 360? Is it going to be required for most games in a year? If it is, thats pretty shitty! The games are already 60 dollars, thats one hella expensive accessory.

HD-DVD has nothing to do with the game format, it's presented solely to give that particular format a run at next gen media playing.

I can't watch any of this stuff from work. Worse yet, this is the first time I didn't realize E3 was actually beginning, I am totally slipping as I have been jazzed in the past about E3 weeks before it began. It's fucking May already, holy crap '06 has been a blur.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 5:19 pm

http://www.xbox.com/NR/rdonlyres/D158C5 ... 2006hi.asx

Halo 3 Trailer

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 9, 2006, 5:26 pm

aH WTF, GTA4 is not this year but next 2007 Oct release same time as PS3. Nice but not that huge a deal at all.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 9, 2006, 5:30 pm

Winnow wrote:aH WTF, GTA4 is not this year but next 2007 Oct release same time as PS3. Nice but not that huge a deal at all.

Yeah, I corrected myself above as well. The XBox Exclusive I think has something to do with episodic content to be released after the game comes out through the marketplace rather than the GTA4 game in itself.

Waran · Post by **Waran** » May 9, 2006, 5:40 pm

Leave it to Microsoft to put their little spin on it

They did the same thing last year when they said that the 360 would play all of the "best selling original Xbox games."

Some thought that equalled reverse compatibility when it actually didn't.

Waran · Post by **Waran** » May 9, 2006, 5:44 pm

http://www.gametrailers.com

Great host of videos of many of the E3 game movies

Breagen · Post by **Breagen** » May 9, 2006, 6:03 pm

Halo3 looking as unimpressive as Halo2 from the little I can see in that trailer. I really wish MS had never bought out Bungie. They went from a group that made amazing games primarily for their storyline and very good graphics to one that just makes great graphics to showcase the next generation Xbox and has total shit for storylines.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » May 9, 2006, 7:52 pm

i thought the halo 3 trailer was awesome

Breagen · Post by **Breagen** » May 9, 2006, 9:22 pm

Cinematically/graphically sure it looks great, but than so did Halo2 and I had trouble convincing myself to even finish the single player.

As someone who played all of their games back when they were Mac exclusive it is sad to watch them decline from a company that not only had very good graphics in their games but focused on writing very intricate and interesting storylines that kept me interested in actually finding out the how it would come to an end.

The only games that I ever play more than once or twice are those that have storylines that are more than just kill a bunch of aliens or fight off ze Germans etc. Pretty graphics are great, but they only go so far towards making a longterm successful game imo.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » May 10, 2006, 12:14 am

i havent been able to play a shooter since Quake 3 anyway. I get motion sickness after about 5 mins =)

i stand corrected i was able to play BF2 for about 30 mins!

Siji · Post by **Siji** » May 10, 2006, 2:18 am

Voronwë wrote:i havent been able to play a shooter since Quake 3 anyway. I get motion sickness after about 5 mins =)

Same with me, except it was Quake 2: LMCTF for me..

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » May 10, 2006, 7:38 am

For anyone thta has a 360, the Lost Planet E3 Demo is up on the Marketplace.

The game is really cool. I may actually pick up the final product.

I got a chance to see the MS press conference last night and I'd have to rate em overall as Nintendo > MS > Sony overall in terms of effectiveness. The Wii is a much more exciting product than I had anticipated. I just wish they had expanded on how the back catalog was going to work.

Saw this on another board.

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » May 10, 2006, 10:59 am

Nobody in their right mind wishes they'd stolen the lifeless husk of Rare. Nor Lionhead for that matter.

Claiming Nintendo invented analogue sticks and rumble is a reach as well

E3 not doing much for me so far.
Wii stuff looks interesting and I was always planning on buying one to go alongside another console.
PS3 stuff is largely "meh". Pretty though. GT4HD looks nice but fuck that franchise. Ridge Racer 7 excites me more.
Haven't seen any 360 stuff yet but the machine's all ready out and thus not very interesting