# E3 news



## bendoran (May 10, 2006)

Anyone else been keeping tabs on e3? 

what did you all think of the announccements by the 3 big players?

like $600 for the ps3.  The speaker in the wii remote.  or Halo3.


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## Quokka (May 10, 2006)

Havent got around to having a good look yet, but what's the general opinion on the 'tilt control' or what ever its called for the ps3 controller? - fast passing powerglove-like gimic or something that (atleast some) developers will use to add real benefits to gamers?

I mean the implications for direct control in action, space, flight games etc are obvious... but are we likely to see strategy/sports games etc using it with the existing options to add extra dimensions of control?

Using this to move around the gameworld whilst the traditional joysticks move through the menus etc, might work well. I mean the current controllers would have looked terrifying to someone playing an Atari, with one joystick and one button, who knows how many controls we can handle, with practice.

By the way, that controller does look shocking... until you realise just how small it is and that the 'wings' may actually help with comfort and even the prevention of gaming-related-injuries . And I've gotta say the fact that cords are a thing of the past with controllers is a very nice evolution.

Price tag? irrelivant IMO, the fantatics will pay $600+, 12 mths will have it not much over $400 etc, same with past consoles. They know that they can put a huge mark up on it for that initial release and a percentage will pay to have it _NOW or import it to have it sooner _and no one will be too suprised when it drops down to where the parents start weighing up the cost, against ending the nagging come next christmas. 

What me cynical.... never  

Microsoft to pull further ahead again IMO, like I said I havent seen to much but can Nintendo really keep competing or are they likely to go the way of Sega and become game developers/licensers. Though are they still right up there in the asian markets? I really dont know.

One last vague and inconsequential point, I probably shouldn't have been as suprised as I was by just how much PC MMOG content there seemed to be, considering how much money the business can generate now days, is this a fairly recent increase? 

And are the console makers worried by competition or do you think they're confident that a pc and internet connection are pretty much essential items now days (atleast in the demographics relevant to them)so it really doesn't affect how many are willing to buy a console? 

...and the closing gap between console and pc is a whole other post all together 

My apologies for such a long post about so very little....


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## Green (May 10, 2006)

I won't be buying any more consoles, I've had my fill. The PS2 was the last one I bought, and that's been collecting dust for a while now 

I remember when £100-£150 for a SNES was just beyond belief. Now it's £340? Forget that. But like Quokka says, the fanatics will spend their money regardless. Some people just have to have it now... even a year down the line they'll be a waste of money imo.

As for the controller... it's an interesting idea, but would it work? What if you need to budge up as your mate sits down on the couch, and all of a sudden your  F14 fighter plane has taken a dip into the ocean.

Anyway... give me a PC any day


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## Animaiden (May 10, 2006)

Green said:
			
		

> Anyway... give me a PC any day


Long Live the PC.

Well, at least now I know when to expect an influx of PS2s on e-bay.  Gonna try and buy one real cheap since the PS3 is coming out November 15, 2006 (I think)

Anywho, here is a link to Gamespot's E3 site, it includes much information and announcements


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## Green (May 11, 2006)

Sell you my PS2 for £50


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## Void Dragon (May 11, 2006)

there's only two platforms worth playing on: pc and xbox (which is not much different from a pc)

If I had money, I'dd buy me a 360, but the old black box wil have to remain in service for a bit longer...


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## bendoran (May 11, 2006)

£50! i'd buy that 

i was really depressed to hear how poorly recieved nintendos controller was on the e3 floor.  What a waste of oppurtunity.  I had hoped, hoped fervently, that they would do away with the pointer.  With something that records its position in 3d what need for a pointer.  You need only record an anchor point and then let poeple work from there.  oh well.

Judging by what i saw i am glad i forked up for a 360.  I got it cheap by trading in all my last gen games

a few things did impress me though.  The new final fantasy for ps3 looked nice, but give me a remake of seven and i would fork out a fortune to play it  if i do just get a ps2 there are still loads of good last gen games about. and final fantasy 12 looks awesome.

There was all this talk about a big secret in nintendos controller, a speaker in it isnt exactly groundbreaking.

As for the ps3, what can i say it will ssell like hotcakes, ubut it just doesnt seem worth that kind of money.


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## Winters_Sorrow (May 11, 2006)

I wish I was at the Expo but it's nice that things are hotting up nicely between the 3 consoles and the warring factions are beginning to appear 

I'm very rarely an "early adopter" of new consoles and games, preferring to wait for at least 6-8 months for the price to drop and any teething issues with consoles to be identified and dealt with.

The Nintendo Wii sounds intriguing but I'm not sure how it will be received in the West as the fan base, though established and rabid, has always been smaller than that of say the Xbox/PS crowd - mainly because the games tend to be more generic FPS and sports sim which always sell well (sigh).

I'm not a huge fan of the original Xbox (although I do have one and did like Jade Empire a lot, as well as Republic Commando) but I think the Xbox360 has done well and will more than likely get a larger share of the gaming market in the west at least. I am a little disappointed that there are problems with it's backward compatibility in some games as for new consoles the lack of games to choose from is always a pain.

I reckon the mad dash for Blu-Ray, HD-DVD and the "2 versions of the same console" which both the Xbox360 and PS3 have done/are doing is a bit distasteful though. Both have aspirations to be more than gaming consoles, which is fine, but primarily that's what they are!!
And all that rubbish, distracts from that.


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## bendoran (May 11, 2006)

well the 360 core wasnt so big a difference, i mean trhe cheaper ps3 is just terrible in comparison.  Strangely they never mentioned backward compatability at the sony conf, dont know what to make of that.


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## Winters_Sorrow (May 11, 2006)

Actually the more I hear, the more I dread the PS3.
Ever since the PS3 Boomerang controller fiasco it seems to have stumbled from crisis to crisis.
The latest rumour I hear is that PS3 will not be compatible back to PS1, only to PS2. 
Which means I can't play FFVII or a whole host of excellent PS1 games on it - disaster!

I think I need a Wii....


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## Red Phoenix (May 11, 2006)

*IF* i get a next generation console i'm going to get a revol... i mean wii, simply so i have all nintendo consoles, and for metroid and mario, zelda and all that nintendo stuff


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## Brys (May 11, 2006)

It seems to me like Sony's starting to lose their grip - releasing a console many months later than Microsoft and at a higher price - it seems like the roles have been reversed. Nintendo named their console "Wii"? Completely insane IMO, but then they've never attempted to conform - and Microsoft naming the Xbox 2 "Xbox 360" wasn't exactly logical either. 

As for the games themselves - tons announced, but very little that looks impressive. Neither the Xbox 360 nor the PS3 have anything brilliant out, but the game "Assassin's Creed" (which I think is being released for both) caught my eye as interesting. I noticed that the first trailer of Halo 3 is out, but it didn't have any substance to it and it isn't going to be enough on its own to make me get a 360 by any means. Medieval total war 2 also had a trailer come out and of course it looks very impressive.

I've learnt my lesson from the last generation of consoles - don't get them when they're new (too expensive), and wait until you find out if they have any decent games on them. The Xbox had a few worthwhile ones, but not really enough to warrant a £300 console (what it cost initially).


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## Green (May 12, 2006)

I never really understood the XBox's popularity, really. I thought the controllers were atrocious and it didn't have any decent games that I either couldn't get on the PS2 or couldn't get on the PC (and who wants to play a FPS on a console anyway?)

Some might argue that they don't have a console _and_ a PC, but I think that most of my mates who have a console also have a PC.

The Xbox has a hard drive and all that rubbish, which a friend of mine always went on about: "It's like a PC - I can watch media files on it!" But then, I can do that on my PC (and transmit the signal to my TV at a cost much less than for the behemoth in the front room), so what's the point?

I've always said... if you want a PC, get a PC. If you want a console, get a PS2.


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## Winters_Sorrow (May 12, 2006)

There were a few good games for the Xbox, so I have to disagree with you there, Green.

I thought Jade Empire and Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners were both excellent.
The controller looks bulky, but like everything you get used to it (although I hate the black and white buttons).
Fable was fairly decent and Crimson Skies was a decent flight game. As they're the only games I have for the Xbox and as I got the Xbox for £75 second hand rather than straight away, I agree with Brys about early adopting. Even Oblivion hasn't tempted me to get the Xbox360 although I admit it came close


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## Green (May 12, 2006)

Winters_Sorrow said:
			
		

> TCall of Cthulu: Dark Corners... Fable...




Both available on the PC, too  Dunno about those other games.

But fair enough, if you like it, you like it. I think all consoles are a ripoff these days, not just XBox, especially when you figure in the cost of the games and the extra controllers etc etc.


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## bendoran (May 12, 2006)

oblivion clinched it for me in terms of buying a 360.  it just looked so tempting  There have been some awesome games announced though, i think i am most looking forward to mass effect for the 360 as its from bioware who made jade empire and kotor, both of which i really enjoyed.  Plus early impressions are resoundingly positive.  Another big game for the 360 will be gears of war, it too has got really good feedback.

for the wii, i look forqward to zelda, but if there isnt enough improvement and the controller isnt as intuitive as nintendo says i may just get zelda ffor my game cube.  

i have a pc aswell, and it cost me a lot, but i use it for writing and counterstrike, and tv shows.  but the xbox( i know i have too many consoles) was a great purchase.  the hard drive was massive and useful

ps3 will sell like mad no matter what happens, but peter moore said it best when he said for the price of a ps3 you could buy both the 360 and the wii!!!


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## Winters_Sorrow (May 12, 2006)

Green said:
			
		

> Both available on the PC, too  Dunno about those other games.
> 
> But fair enough, if you like it, you like it. I think all consoles are a ripoff these days, not just XBox, especially when you figure in the cost of the games and the extra controllers etc etc.


 
true, but Dark Corners just came out very recently, but was available on Xbox for years although Fable appeared on both together.

And as I said, I got mine 2nd hand - with two controllers, so I wasn't bothered.

I agree it's pretty much half the cost of a PC when you start charging £400 for them!


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## Green (May 12, 2006)

PC's are much better value for money than consoles... as long as you don't do something daft like buy from Dell or PC World. You can't upgrade a PS3 if the motherboard gets a bit dated, alas.


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## Brys (May 12, 2006)

Winters_Sorrow said:
			
		

> There were a few good games for the Xbox, so I have to disagree with you there, Green.
> 
> Fable was fairly decent and Crimson Skies was a decent flight game. As they're the only games I have for the Xbox and as I got the Xbox for £75 second hand rather than straight away, I agree with Brys about early adopting. Even Oblivion hasn't tempted me to get the Xbox360 although I admit it came close


 
A positive comment about Fable? That must be the first I've ever heard! (I assume you didn't hear anything about Fable before release). Fable was probably the most disappointing game ever created IMO - not the worst game, but the most disappointing by far. It lasted me about 10 hours, and had no replayability value. I'd been led to believe that it would be similar in scale to Morrowind, but with better graphics, aging, a dynamic world and a much better levelling system. It turns out they scrapped all of the main features because they took up too much processor time and they wanted to improve the combat.

I personally thought Halo was an excellent game - and it's the only example I could think of where a console FPS was better than the PC version. Halo 2 wasn't quite as good, but still worthwhile. Everything else worthwhile was on PC though.

The Xbox 360's backwards compatability list is a joke - it doesn't include Morrowind (which sold 4.5 million in total, about 60% of those on Xbox) - Halo only sold 6.5 million roughly. Fable sold less, at 2 million, but is on the backwards compatability list, and some really marginal ones are there too. If one thing's putting me off getting an Xbox 360 (other than the lack of games for it) more than anything else, it's this ridiculous backwards compatability list, which includes Halo, Halo 2 and a load of games you've never heard of, but very few of the better known ones.

Just found out: Oblivion is going to be coming out on PS3 - and on PSP 
I don't really understand the latter, but the former isn't a huge surprise.


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## bendoran (May 17, 2006)

i think that rumour was squashed about ps3 and psp brys. i know it wont be on psp, but ps3 could handle it.

fable was just so disappointing.

xbox was a good console though, pro evo and halo and fight night all good kotor and jade empire too.


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## Brys (May 17, 2006)

The Xbox was, but I don't know that the Xbox 360 will be a decent console. There just aren't many decent games out for it - launch games are notoriously mediocre, but the Xbox 360's launch games were pretty low quality even considering that. Oblivion's a decent game on Xbox 360, but I've got the PC version (which is better IMO), and Halo 3 alone, given the lacklustre performance at E3, isn't going to make me get a 360, especially when you have to consider the games cost £50 each.


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## Winters_Sorrow (May 17, 2006)

I do agree with the price of the games. There is *no* way I could condone spending that sum for a console game.
To be honest, I resent paying more than £30 for a game, new or otherwise.

I hope that this is merely expensive due to the fact ir's a new console etc etc and then the titles prices will come down to more reasonable levels. I see a lot of articles about publishers bemoaning game piracy or the burgeoning second hand market on poor sales, but sooner or later they have to face up to the fact that their product's prices are beyond what consumers are willing to pay.

Sadly, some do buy at that price but more fool them, I say.


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## Green (May 17, 2006)

Just download them for free.

Ahem. I have recently purchased FEAR since it is the only game in about the past four years (bar PES5) that I have deemed worth buying.

£50 per game? Are they having a laugh? I wouldn't pay anything for most of the snot that comes out these days.


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## Animaiden (May 18, 2006)

Winters_Sorrow said:
			
		

> I do agree with the price of the games. There is *no* way I could condone spending that sum for a console game.
> To be honest, I resent paying more than £30 for a game, new or otherwise.


 Me too.  I'm still annoyed that I paid $130 for a N64 (plus $50 for Zelda).  I learned my lesson, wait a few months and the price will go down
I did hear somewhere that the price for crafting a game on one of the new and spiffy consoles is about $70 million(or some other really high number), which will put the third party people out of business, or discourage them from making games.

There will be Fable 2, but they publishers aren't saying it is the greatest anything.  They learned from the first time 'round.


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