Monday might have set us off on the wrong foot, but Tuesday’s conferences more than made up for it. Basically, I’m a massive Nintendo fan and their conference seemed to do everything I wanted it to do – confirm a new Wii Zelda and show off the 3DS, which looks incredible. I’m just getting back into the Wii with the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 so it was good to see so many familiar faces on Nintendo’s future line-up.
But, regardless, much of TSA’s focus was on Sony’s conference, which we reported on live with news stories as they happened, starting with a slightly early leak of the Motorstorm trailer and then moving straight into the show, which kicked off with a 3D playthrough of Killzone 3, which got more of a cheer than the entire Microsoft conference. In fact, both Microsoft conferences. A nice start, Sony, to be sure.
The things we wanted Sony to dwell on, like Sly Cooper, were skipped without pause and it’s only this morning that we got proper confirmation of SingStar Dance (and it’s new friend, SingStar Guitar). Perhaps it’s because Sony didn’t think a majority US audience cared about SingStar, but it would have been nice to get a name check, along with the completely absent but presumably queued up for TGS The Last Guardian.
What did get a namecheck, though, was TheSixthAxis, with Media Molecule’s Alex Evans slipping up when he picked up the Dual Shock 3 and blurting the name of our site rather than the name of the controller – in our ears at least. Thanks Alex, we love you too. Sony then focused on Move, with Sorcery the main highlight followed swiftly by the ambitiously brave pricing, something only Sony were keen to do.
Then came PlayStation Plus, something we’ve been waiting for for months, and the brilliant sideswipe of Gabe Newell to talk about Portal 2 and Steam on the PS3. Genius. Gran Turismo 5 being dated was another highlight but ending the show on Twisted Metal was a low point – not a bit fan and to have put up with Jaffe saying he’s not working on it for the last half year was frustrating. Still, it was a solid presser, and well worth watching.
After that came the Cross Game Chat fiasco, with Sony adding it up and then taking it down again, but concrete news of PlayStation Plus early in the morning was a nice treat.
Radboud
I was pleasantly surprised by the sorcery game.
It looks fun and very playable with easy controls.
It was a very good thing that they didn’t demo all the previous Move games again.
The Nintendo conference was good, but Im not that big a fan of Wii. Epic Mickey and Donkey Kong look like fun and are graphically good too.
Kirby almost made me fall asleep with that jingle :P
skibadee
me too I liked the look of the sorcery game. but my Wii was just gathering dust so got rid of it a month ago would have got Golden Eye for it but will not buy one again just for Golden Eye tho.
Nauraph
What about Kevin Butler? You forgot to name him. ;)
I didn’t see the Nintendo Conference, since I’m not a big fan of the Wii, but what I heard about it sounds good.
Winkle
I enjoyed the Nintendo and Sony conferences but still cant get my head around the PSN+ bit. What are Sony thinking with the Cross Gamer Chat thing too? first is there now it aint? `they must know they’ve just took shot themselves in the foot with amount of confusion they’ve just caused with all this.
cc_star
A good day, some amazing stuff showed off by Nintendo and then Sony matching them with some big hitters of their own.
Was nice to see Jaffe, I like him although it’s been a stupidly long time since I picked up Twisted Metal but the new game looks like it will be great multi player fun.
Disappointed that The Last Guardian didn’t get a trailer, and was even more disappointed that Starhawk and Agent didn’t get a teaser or at least a name check.
The portal announcement was obviously a highlight but I can’t help thinking it would have carried more weight if it was the “just one more thing moment…” at the end.
And then (exactly the same as the Microsoft conference Halo: Reach, CoD: Black Ops, Gears3 & Fable 3) everything else we knew about & had already seen footage from Killzone 3, Dead Space 2 etc.
And I ain’t going to mention Move, because Sony has made Motion evangelists out of it’s entire fanbase who have spent the last 3 or 4 years pointing and laughing at Motion.
And whilst the EA exclusive extra playable character is nice I’d swap it all in a heartbeat for the teased EA/Crytek Xbox 360 exclusive Codename: Kingdoms or of course a Mass Effect announcement… Those two piss all over any little bits of extra content EA can give us!
Highlight of the day was Epic Mickey, Donkey Kong and of course Kevin Butler
FoxHoundGabe
I agree with everything.
I acctually think after all three conferences, the Nintendo fans left the happiest, while Sony and MS ones were left a bit cold.
Maybe there was too much hype over this E3, and Sony and MS just couldnt live up to the expectations. (Or in MS case, after a good start the hype was killed when kinect appeared).
Daywalker
You didn’t mention how bad InFamous 2 looked. It was like a poor sequel that was made from seeing tiny snapshots of the original game. Cole is not Cole, he has hair, new clothes and a new voice. The game looks really average with the addition of Ice as a power, and as a whole, looks like the kind of game that was around when the PS3 was first released. Horrible looking thing it was, and, made worse by all the amazing new games with brilliant graphics and new, innovative ways to play. InFamous 2, Do Not Want.
cc_star
I didn’t like inFAMOUS much but I did like Cole, his darkness was very Batman-like and his conflict with the people he was generally helping was amazing.
bunimomike
I thought it looked very strong. I just can’t come to terms with the fact that they’ve changed Cole and everything about him. However, if they crank out a great game, that’s fine with me.
FLUFFYB1TCH
I liked the original Cole but it’s definitely not a game killer for me. As long as the game is good I don’t really care. Dante’s Inferno was fun and he was nothing like Kratos!
bunimomike
But DI was nothing to do with the God of War franchise, was it?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure I’ll really enjoy inFamous 2 but ARGH! Lead character change (but no name change) of epic proportion.
Rob92
Seen the bit at the end when he says “theres always something…”?
Tell me that doesnt piss over the graphics of the first game. Looks a definite improvement and I cant wait to play.
bunimomike
A great conference for Sony. Not the best in the world but bloody strong stuff. If I have to compare, then Microsoft come in a terrible third (not just your “ah, you did your best” third either. We’re talking about parents disowning their child at the school fun run for running into a tree, disowning). ;-)
I still can’t settle with Sucker Punch’s choices in inFamous but I’m all ears for how it shapes up. Twisted Metal has quite a bit to do as it all looked very generic. Something the franchise has never suffered from.
I’ve not seen the KZ3 trailer at E3 but will go hunt it down in a moment.
It was great to see Jack Tretton presenting as he’s really natural at delivering such a wealth of information. The other chap was reading almost exclusively from the teleprompter. :-\ Gabe Newell had a good laugh and a joke and it was good to see him basically apologise or at least look like a complete tosser for the first few seconds.
Kevin Butler was superb. A bit formulaic but the crowd loved him! The man can do no wrong.
Finally, there appears to be a genuinely strong push for the PSP. Great news.
Foxhound_Solid
I see infamous 2 as a new character altogether as oppose to still being Cole. Loved the Sony Conference and thought it went very very well. They are really working ell and the PS3 is up there now, MS must have been a little upset as there were so many surprises up sonys sleeve!
Some exciting news coming along and we all know Agent, Starhawk and TLG are still on their way to us. Good Times fo sho!
BadBoyBoogie
I’ve enjoyed E3 this year. There’s a lot of games confirmed for a release later this year that I really want, so I’d better start saving now!!
I’m looking forward for the PSN store to update later so I can download all the trailers from the show and see them on a big screen!! :)
Rob92
Wouldve liked to see more from inFamous and Motorstorm, more Sony franchises in general! GT5, TLG, and even some Agent.
Infact Sony could’ve done with about half an hour more to show off those games and a bit more Move. They sorta glided over everything. Which just shows how much content they have.
So overall, very happy.