My E3 Review:
I didn't get to see Microsoft's presentation, but I heard that they showed off pretty much what people expected and then tossed in "Forza Preview" for kicks. While the Kinect seems pretty awesome, one has to remember that Microsoft hasn't had much luck with releasing bug-free hardware, so there IS the chance that the Kinect camera might also have some issues at first. However, I'm sure those bugs will get fixed an in few months, it'll be great. Except...it's only two players. And it costs $150. That's a little pricy for a new motion control system.
There also seems to be some half-truths and lies slipped in there, as well. The Ferrari 458 footage from "Forza Preview" probably ISN'T how Forza 4 will look. It is a pre-rendered car using a technology that even the twice-as-fast PS3 would have issues running. So, unless Microsoft was hiding a new system behind the curtain, that was a bit of a stretch just to show off the Kinect more than the game. Another thing, like with Nintendo and Sony, most of the stage demos feature pre-rendered animations. These can make some of the motion-control scenes make them seem a bit more 1:1 than they actually are. Miscrosoft's Kinect seemed to be VERY smooth...smoother than Sony's Move and the Wii, which makes me skeptical as to if that is how the actual Kinect will behave or not. Also...$150 for a two player motion-control system? Really? And doesn't the "Kinect" look a lot like the Playstation Eye or is it my imagination.
On to Sony. They, too showed a lot of games we expected. Infamous 2, Killzone 3, Metal Gear Solid Rizing, Gran Turismo 5 and others. It was a good presentation...except the whole Move demonstrations. That seemed to kill the buzz. But all that was washed away with trailers for Gran Turismo 5 and the announcement of the return of Sweet Tooth and the Twisted Metal franchise. Amongst the Sony booths, a couple more Sony titles were shown, including Motorstorm: Apocolypse. (which does anyone know if that's Motorstorm 3 or 4?) However Sony's presentation was lacking the biggest titles that people wanted to see: The Last Guardian, Grand Theft Auto 5, Resistance 3...all missing. But that's all right 'cause there were plenty of other big titles to drool over.
Nintendo ended the press conferances and they brought a lot to the table with a new family game pack thingy, Epic Disney, and the return of a lot of old faces including Mario, Kirby, Donkey Kong and we can't forget Link. ('Cause Zelda's the princess's name. Link's the guy.) But the thing that stole the show was the "New" Nintendo 3DS. It is a brand new system, but packaged in the DS box, sorta-speak. Everyone at the show loved this new little handheld. My favorites, however were still Okamiden and Superscribblenaughts which, by the way, won't be on the 3DS.
Ubisoft unvealed a few cool titles but I think EA overshowed them with thier sports series and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit from Burnout creators Critereon Games. Everyone seemed impressed with the new Hot Pursuit game. Although, the aspect of unlocking powerups as you progress is new and a little interesting, the fact that you can now do a career as a cop is freakin' epic. Although, I'm sure there will be achievements/Trophies for completing both careers and collecting all the cars. Speaking of which. It would seem that the cars for each side are different variations of each other or similar cars: Like for the racer you might unlock a Koineggseg CCX but in Pursuit mode you'd unlock the CCR or something.
Other games like Driver: San Francisco have recieved mixed reviews. One one side, it's cool to have an open world enviroment with 100+ real world cars, but the whole Shift thing seems odd and I think I'd rather just jack someone's SRT4 rather than shift into it.
I think in the end, Nintendo had the best showing, but there were a lot of good games for all three systems shown. (Like Halo Reach and Crackdown 2 for Xbox 360.) It'll be interesting to see what GamesCom and TGS bring.
But I'm not trying to flame battle.
