Of course there are plenty of quality exclusives, such as Killzone 2, infamous, Metal Gear Solid 4, BlazBlue, Fable 2 and many, many others, but everyone (including me) doesn't feel like investing in a console such as Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 to pay $60 for a single game, or considerably more in case you live outside the United States. Not to mention the costs of a HDTV and a sound system - horrible built-in flat panel screen speakers just don't cut it if you want the 'true HD experience'.
By now I must have plenty of console gamers breathing down my neck for underrating their system of choice so much. Just like you might prefer the hassle-free console experience, we are ready to spend time tweaking our games and systems to get the most out of what we have. I even enjoy the hours long tinkering to some extent and I'm certainly not alone.
It's not that I don't want to play on 360 or PS3, I just don't have the time or money to do so. A gaming PC isn't as expensive as some people make it to be but games cost, even if they are often half cheaper on PC. I might save $20 or so when I buy the PC version of a multiplatform game but in the end I save nothing because I still use the same amount of money on games, I just buy more of them and spend even more of my precious time gaming.
But I believe that no so-called hardcore gamer can call himself a true aficionado if they only game on one system, whether that system is a 360, a PC or an iPhone. There is so much singleplatform users are missing. I don't care too much if a game is 10 or 20 hours long, as long as the time I spend playing is quality time. I want the most and the widest variety of experiences. Once I'm done with the singleplayer campaign of a game, I'm done with it and move on to a new gaming experience.
When choosing a console to go with my PC, I have to choose carefully because I only a limited amount of time and money. Whether you like it or not, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 more or less emulate a media center PC and with the huge amount of multiplatform games, the differences between console and computer games are becoming less and less visible. Plug in a 360 controller to your PC and you won't even notice the difference. So why invest in a console when we have already spent time and money on our gaming rigs which in our opinion offer the superior experience?
Fortunately Nintendo does things differently. Rather than following the mass, Nintendo has made the mass follow them. As much as ''current-gen hardcore gamers'' seem to loathe Nintendo, I very much have to give them credit for what they've done. The Wii might not have the best or the most games out there, but what they've created is something you can't experience on any other system; unique control scheme (resulting in unique games) and Nintendo's own game development studios, arguably the best in the business.
What does it matter if Wii doesn't have as many quality titles as the other two consoles, I don't even have the time to play every PC game I want. Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros. and Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 are enough to keep me busy when I don't feel like playing on PC. After being a happy Wii owner for two years I decided to purchase their even larger success story, the DS. And I can say that I don't regret it one bit. Neither Wii nor DS try to compete with graphical prowess, forcing developers to come up with unique game ideas to stand out of the crowd, rather than developing lite versions of console games. And the risks are low thanks to low budgets.
Even if I have a gaming PC capable of producing marvelous 1080p graphics, I know that graphics don't make a game. I still play old games because many cIassics simply are that good. I'm currently working on Arcanum, which was released eight years ago and still is better than any WRPG I've played in the past year. And for example Secret of Monkey Island is still just as good as it was 20 years ago.
The World Ends With You, Boom Blox and Rhythm Heaven might not look like much but they are an absolute joy to play. Same goes with the rest of weird-looking ''kiddy'' games on Nintendo systems. Don't let the looks fool you. If you are a PC gamer, grab a Nintendo console or two. Wii is the worst choice for a singleplatform gamer but Wii and DS are fantastic choices for a secondary system. And that goes for everyone.
The weirdest thing of all, as soon as I start a round of Wii Sports, my friends suddenly find it cool that I'm a gamer. I never got that kind of response when I tried to show how awesome Bloody-Killing-Massacre 3 is.
Hey guys and girls,
It's been a while since I've really posted a blog so I figured I would do one today. Nothing much has been going on really, it was my 21st not too long ago and that was pretty cool, I've been playing lots more Xbox 360 games and generally chilling out. I finished GTA IV to 100% which took me quite a while and now I'm playing a good deal of Colin McRae: DiRT which is pretty awesome.
So yeah, on another note I'm going to be spending most of my time over at GiantBomb.com, so if you want to keep up with me over there you can find me here. I'll still stick around on GameSpot and I'm not really leaving as such, but I probably won't be on the forums much (even though I'm not really anyway) anymore and I will probably continue my blog on GiantBomb.
It's been good meeting a lot of you guys and like I said I will still be here so take it easy out there.
Got Trauma Center UTK 2 for the ds, haven't played it yet, but it looks entertaining.
Anyone esle have this?
So with E3 craziness in full swing I felt the urge to have a bit of a ramble about my impressions and thoughts over what we've seen from the conferences.
Microsoft
So I have to admit the Microsoft conference was a bit of a disappointment.
Gears of War 2 looks good but I was never the biggest Gears of War fan to begin with (I've only gone though single player twice and multiplayer doesn't interest me). I'll pick it up eventually but it's not something I'm super pumped for. It seems to be coming along well with more of the same action and the odd new feature here and there.
The new dashboard. Colour me disappointed. I don't like being so pessimistic but bluntly put: I hate it! The avatars are a horrible rip off of the Wii and the way they tried to pretend it was such an original idea was just cringe worthy. It just doesn't fulfil what I want from the 360 at all. I'm happy with the current state of gamercards, are they gonna throw all that away? Guess we'll see come winter.
Resident Evil 5 is looking great. Hella similar to 4 but at this point I don't think many of us were very surprised by that. The old RE formula is dead it seems which I feel a bit mixed about. I loved the old RE games but they are very dated now compared to 4. So I think this is a good direction to go in, even if there isn't really anything terribly new here.
Fable II was looking good. Not really anything shockingly new was shown but it's nice to see it so finished. It certainly looks like it's gonna be much more of a solid and complete game compared to the first one. Probably the exclusive I'm most looking forward to this year.
The FFXIII announcement wasn't too much of a shock after Yoichi Wada got up on stage. It felt like they were building up to it when talking about the other RPGs on the way. Seems damn good news and seriously puts a dent in my PS3 plans. Metal Gear is looking like the only big reason I have left to go for it. But what wasn't mentioned was Versus, I guess we can assume that's still gonna be exclusive to the PS3.
Nintendo
I was looking forward to Nintendo's the most but the lack of new announcements was very disappointing. Although it was entertaining to watch and there were a couple things I thought were interesting.
The MotionPlus add-on was pretty intriguing. I have no idea how it works but it seemingly improves the motion control effectiveness by quite a bit as we could see. I've played a lot of Wii Sports so with a new one on the way that's actually pretty cool. It's nice to see stuff like sword fighting as boxing was my favourite last time around so it's safe to say sword fighting is gonna be a blast. We only got to see three of the games in it so I'm hoping there's gonna be a good amount when we finally get our hands on it.
We finally saw the lightsaber game we've been waiting for in the form of Clone Wars. I think its way too early for us to start making judgements on it but from the little we saw it looked fairly good, the thing is though this is gonna all be about how it handles. If it all comes together it should be pretty fun.
Wii Music looks fun. It's the Wii Sports kind of fun that looks like anyone can have a go and get some fun outta it. The drum demonstration was great to watch and was certainly impressive. They said there would be some other game types within it where you match up notes so it sounds like it's not all gonna be letting loose. Although the big play off at the end started out great there were parts that sounded pretty ear splittingly awkward though that seemed to be because not everyone looked familiar with the tune they were playing to.
My sister is a big Animal Crossing fan and the online mic support on the way for the sequel seems to be a very good move for the series. The game looks mainly more of the same, for better or worse depending on if you were into the first. It's never really been my thing but I can see the pull of it.
Sony
I thought the Sony conference was still quite underwhelming but I think they nailed it more than the other two did.
I thought it was a good movie pointing out how the big memorable titles in the PS1 and PS2's life span took a few years to come in. Effectively saying the best is yet to come with the PS3 and we all shouldn't discard it just yet. Though it was a bit odd how lines like "as many of you have wrote" kept getting said like he wanted to say "Hey don't take my word for it! Other people think it too!"
The Little Big Planet demonstration used to show the statistics was a brilliant idea and the highlight for me of the whole conference. The statistics is always the dullest part of every conference but by showing off the stats within a Little Big Planet level they made it very entertaining to watch as well as showing off what the game can do. If anyone hasn't seen the game before then this would definitely be a memorable way to see it.
Home, it's still coming!...does anyone care anymore? I'll admit I liked seeing the rooms themed to specific games but Home as a whole has just worn off on me.
We also got our first look at the DC MMO. This was another highlight as I've been looking forward to this and having Jim Lee give the presentation was a great idea (he's recognisable among DC fans and he seemed very relaxed talking which was nice to see). The game itself looked cool, it was very reminiscent of City of Heroes but that was unavoidable. It was nice to hear we can make both heroes and villians. It's still very early days with this so we'll have to see where it goes. Unfortunately I couldn't help letting out a sigh and wishing the Marvel MMO wasn't canned. I like a bit of DC (mainly Supergirl and Batman) but when it comes to comics: make mine Marvel.
Others
Mirror's Edge made me one hell of a happy bunny. I've been following the game since it first got shown off and I'm loving what we've see. I'm dying to get my hands on it as just simply put it looks fun as hell. I love the art direction it looks very clean and the use of colour to show us where to go is a brilliant idea and is very immersive, it beats the hell outta some ugly arrows stuck on the HUD. I'm also quite curious about the story, the gameplay is obviously the main pull but I hope we get some answers from the plot as the game goes on too. It's also refreshing to see a female protagonist and also one that doesn't look like a bimbo or is some stereotypical 'hard ass'. I also like how they said you can play the entire game without firing a single bullet, that sounds like a fun challenge that I'll certainly give a crack once it's released. Outta the whole show this is the game that stood out the most to me. I'm dying to play it.
Shaun White Snowboarding actually looked quite fun. From the Nintendo conference it didn't really make much of a splash for me but at the Ubisoft conference I was eating it up. Now I haven't played a snow boarding game since Snowboard Kids but the breathtaking environment and the idea of you just starting on a mountainside and going wherever you like had me pretty damn interested.
I'm a huge Prince of Persia fan and with the beautiful new trailer I was just getting even more excited. I love the look of the new game and Elika, the partner character, seems like a great addition. I never liked Farah in Sands of Time as she always seemed too whiny and helpless but Elika seems like a great partner for our new Prince and I like how they work together rather than her just depending on the Prince. In fact the way Elika saves the Prince when he's screwed up a platforming session means in a way the Prince now depends on her. The new less linear gameplay looks pretty good and is a little reminiscent of Warrior Within which was the most open of the last trilogy (and my favourite despite how unpopular it usually is amongst fans). The new combat focus of one on one has me with mixed feelings. I loved taking on four enemies at once last time but the one on one fights we've seen so far look spectacular and a lot of fun.
Missing in Action
There was no sign of Beyond Good and Evil 2. I was hoping for a new trailer despite how recently it was announced. I guess that was a tad unrealistic to hope for but I was a huge fan of the first and couldn't help getting my hopes up a little. Ah well.
No Bungie! Now this is an interesting one. Bungie had been teasing us and seemingly leading up to a big reveal but there was nothing. The plot thickened with the release of a note on their site claiming at the last minute their publisher had stopped them from showing it. Interesting no? I'm wondering if Microsoft is still their publisher as that was the impression they gave us before. I've seen people speculate it was to let Gears take centre stage and not get overshadowed and with the FFXIII announcement Microsoft was already set for having their big shock so perhaps they're saving it. Looks like that's indeed the case by the sound of it.
So all in all not too bad but not exactly the best E3. How about you guys? Impressed? Disappointed? See anything you're excited for?
There's only 4 days remaining until the big gaming giants Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft make their press conference speeches at E3 2008 and, to show my appreciation for this period, I've compiled a list of predictions of what we might find this year!
So, cynicism aside (or not), here's what I expect/believe/wish to be announced at this years event:
Nintendo
- Kid Icarus trailer is shown and will be playable on the floor. Release date to be early 2009 (that's late 2010 for us Europeans) Mario and Zelda will take a break this year.
- Animal Crossing Online for the Wii is announced but is not playable. Another 2009 release date.
- Voice chat is announced (...I joke, I joke. Sorry, I'll be serious)
- Nintendo resolves the data storage issues of the Wii (haha...sorry, I couldn't resist)
- In conclusion- more waggle for your wii-mote and another lecture of how they conquered the casuals.
Sony
- Team Ico show a very short teaser for their next game. Release date TBA
- God of War 3 is displayed in its full HD perfection and lots of scarlet blood splatters the screen to reveal a 2009 release date.
- The PSP gets some PS3 spin offs like Resistance and Uncharted.
- In conclusion, Sony attempts to step up to the mark and reveals some exclusives for their systems. No price cuts and not much focus on statistics as they seem to lack many to flaunt...
Microsoft
- Alan Wake finally gets some attention and another trailer is shown. Release date either to be 2010 or TBA.
- Gears of war 2, Fable 2 and Bioshock 2 are re/announced and trailers are shown. Fable 2 and Gears 2 will be playable on the show floor. Release dates will be 2009 for all three
- Microsoft reveals 'new, 'innovative' motion sensing technology for the xbox 360.
- In conclusion - not a lot of new content for the 360, but a lot of statistic throwing and a talk on how this year they will 'conquer Japan'(like how they've been saying since 2001
