Cheap Ass Gamer™

CheapyD’s “Me Too” E3 2007 Article

Discuss	Before E3 2007 fades from everyone’s minds, I decided that I should get my thoughts down in virtual print. Hit the link below to check out my picks for the best (and worst) of E3 2007.

Best Pre-E3 2007 Press Conference – Nintendo

None of the “big three” press conferences really blew me away this year, but since I have to choose a winner, I’m going to go with Nintendo. Before writing this article, I went back and looked at my picks from last year. In 2006, I also chose Nintendo’s press conference as the best, and I’m doing so again for the same reasons, not because I was actually in their presentation.

Before their conference even started, you can tell Nintendo was ready to celebrate. The upbeat music set the tone for Nintendo to serve up a tasty helping of “told ya so”. Last year, Reggie & Co. laid the foundation of Nintendo’s strategy of attracting new gamers with the DS and the Wii. This year, with the help of impressive sales numbers and several slickly edited video presentations; we were shown how that strategy has paid off and how Nintendo will continue to capitalize on their current successes. Throw in the surprises of Wii Fit and Reggie’s Balance Board hi-jinks (and to a lesser extent the Zapper), and you’ve got the best press conference of E3 2007.

Sony did a good job of adding fun to their presentation, which was a very noticeable improvement from last year. Jack Tretton even threw in a Riiiiidge Racer joke and they had a Wookie unveil a special edition PSP. However, considering that Nintendo is outselling Sony over 2 to 1 in both console and handheld spaces, Sony had a lot more to prove in their conference and I don’t think they delivered. A 19% slimmer PSP isn’t going to turn the tide against the DS and the $100 PS3 price drop would have been a lot more exciting as a surprise announcement during the presentation. I guess I can take some of the blame on that one. I did enjoy the integration of Home into their presentation, but overall, I didn’t witness a compelling argument for purchasing a PS3 (or Sony stock) in 2007.


Worst Pre-E3 2007 Press Conference – Microsoft

I was moderately entertained by Microsoft’s outdoor presentation, but the lack of a price drop announcement, coupled with no major announcements whatsoever, made their conference the most disappointing. Microsoft decided to only show games coming this year, and even though the Xbox 360 sports this year’s best lineup, there was a general lack of excitement in this conference. Perhaps we were all waiting for some big news that never surfaced or Peter Moore was already thinking about his new digs in sunny California. Whatever the case, Microsoft has plenty of room for improvement for next year.


Best Third Party Publisher - EA

image lifted from redeema
EA’s booth at Barker Hanger was consistently the most crowded throughout the show. It’s easy to see why, as their line-up of non-sports titles that are scheduled for a 2007 release include: Crysis, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, Mercenaries 2, Army of Two, Rock Band, The Simpson's, Skate, and more. Throw in their popular sports series and you’ve got a publisher who is going to be printing money this Christmas.


Best Game Surprise – Stranglehold (PS3/360)

When I heard Midway was publishing a licensed game based on a John Woo movie that doesn’t exist, the words “piece of crap” immediately sprung to mind. However, after spending some hands on time with Stranglehold at E3, I must admit I was wrong. This game plays similarly to Max Payne, but impressed me with its over-the-top John Woo inspired style. Any game that features private part penetrating bullet point-of-view camera work is OK in my book.


Best Game Releasing in 2007 – Mass Effect (360)

Mass Effect was dropping jaws at E3 2006 and was probably my most anticipated game going into this year’s show. As expected, Bioware’s demonstration was even more impressive this year, as they showed off an exciting real-time combat system and incredible looking and sounding characters that are on par with an epic Sci-Fi movie. I’m so eager for the game’s November release, I’ve started reading Mass Effect: Revelation, the freebie paperback given out at E3.


Best In Show – Little Big Planet (PS3)

During my 20-minute play test of Little Big Planet, I realized this game justifies our $500-$600 investments in the PS3. Little Big Planet is a highly ambitious community centric co-op puzzle platformer that not just redefines the platformer genre, it brings gaming to an entirely new level. Players work together to guide their cute customizable characters through game levels and can work co-operatively online to create their own levels. Using incredibly simple, yet powerful in-game tools, the best ever seen in a video game, creations can then be uploaded and shared with fellow gamers around the world. My only hope is that the online community system is as impressive as the game itself. Little Big Planet is the only game I’ve ever played that deserves the title, “Brilliant”.


Worst E3 Article – “Hands-on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption” - IGN.com

http://wii.ign.com/articles/803/803978p1.html
Video game journalists are often accused of inappropriately hyping games during their preview process. It’s certainly fair to offer praise when deserved, but I must share my disapproval when I read grandiose statements, such as, “It plays better than any first-person console game ever... really.” Despite the author’s incredibly bold statement (which is actually the article’s subtitle), don’t expect the article to actually contain comparisons to the best first person games consoles have to offer. I’m sure Metroid Prime 3 will turn out to be fine game, but like its Mario and Zelda brethren, I also expect the review scores to be skewed upwards, because of the names on the box.

Mr. Casamassina, I’ve played many first person console games, I’ve played Metroid Prime 3; Metroid Prime 3 is not even close to being the best playing first person console game ever…really.


Conclusion

I loved the new smaller E3 in Santa Monica and I am sorry to read rumors of next-year’s relocation. The reduction of 55,000 attendees meant I was able to get more appointments, meet more people, and play more games then ever before. This was my fourth E3 and by far my favorite.

The smaller format made it very easy to meet people by accident, and I often ran into the same people multiple times. I think it’s important that the focus of E3 is not only games, but also the people who make them, write about them, talk about them, etc. As an example of how efficient the new E3 is, I thought it would be neat to put together a list of all the gaming journalists/community/blogosphere/podcasting/video people who I at least had a small conversation with at E3 2007. If I forgot to add you, please send me a nasty email!
Discuss




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