The Big Three–Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo–showed off their present and future technologies in the video game and entertainment businesses at this year’s bigger and badder Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California.
In my opinion, Microsoft stole the show with a brilliant keynote presentation that showed off a great line-up of games including tons of first-party (Halo 3: ODST, Halo Reach) and third party (Splinter Cell Conviction, Alan Wake) sure-fire hits. The special presentation by Harmonix with The Beatles: Rock Band definitely has people excited about the next game in the Rock Band series. Xbox’s exclusive song, “All You Need is Love” will surely get people to buy the game for the Xbox over the other consoles. Xbox 360-exclusive games worth mentioning include Forza Motorsport 3, Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Shadow Complex. The Xbox 360 plans on stealing Sony’s thunder with legendary PlayStation-exclusives games such as Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid: Rising coming to the Xbox 360 this fall. Tony Hawk: Ride and Modern Warfare 2 also made exciting appearances.
As great as the Xbox 360 game line-up looks, it was the unveiling of Project Natal that made everyone’s jaws drop with amazement. Natal is Microsoft’s way of making YOU the controller. No Wii-motes, nunchucks, or wands. Natal is a device, similar-looking to the Wii Sensor bar. It sits below or above your TV set. It contains a camera, IR sensors, and a built-in microphone. With facial and voice recognition, the technology built into it is extremely advanced. Simply put, Natal can pick up and output your every movement from your head to your feet. It has full-body motion control. Here’s an example of Natal in natural action. You walk in front of your TV, your Xbox 360 recognizes who you are, automattically signs you into your Xbox Live account, and bring you to the New Xbox Experience home screen. You can use hand gestures to play a game, watch a movie, and so on. You decide to play a racing game with some of your family members. Your hands control the steering wheel, your feet the pedals. Take a quick pit stop, and your dad can jump in the action and replace your tired wheels by unscrewing and placing in new tires. Then it is back to the races. Natal opens up a whole new world of interactive gaming. It truly has me excited about the future of video games, especially the Xbox 360. There is no price point and release date for the code-named Project Natal. However, it has been said that it will definitely not be out this year (possibily in 2010), and the price will be under the cost of the console itself (under $250).
Check after the break for videos of Natal in action, as well as quick overviews from the Sony and Nintendo (not nearly as impressive) keynotes.
Sony’s keynote incorporated new information from its three main products and services–PlayStation 3, PSP (PlayStationPortable), and PSN (Playstation Network). Like Microsoft, Sony announced a pretty robust games line-up for the upcoming year. Some of them include: Uncharted 2: Among Theives, MAG, Assassin’s Creed 2, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodline (PSP), Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy Online XIV. Beyond software, Sony unveiled the new PSPgo. They made it clear that this new PSP hardware will NOT replace the current PSP-3000 model. PSPgo will be released October 1st world-wide with a $250 price tag. An image of the PSPgo and some details can be found on this previous post. During the PSPgo presentation, three new PSP titles were announced–Gran Turismo Portable is looking like it may be to fruition, finally; the next chapter in the Metal Gear Solid series called MGS: Peace Walker, which creator Hideo Kojima claims to be the next true sequel to MGS; and Resident Evil Portable was teased. Then Sony announced their version of a motion controller, dubbed the PlayStation Motion Controller. Although the wand-like device was in a very early prototype stage, the on-stage demos showing off its one-to-one precision and motion-tracking looked quite impressive. I’m thinking this may be too little too late, though, with Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus and Microsoft’s Natal breathing down Sony’s neck. Next up was a new game in the “Play-Create-Share” genre for the PS3. The game is called ModNation Racers. “Think LittleBigPlanet and MarioKart rolled into one.” With almost everything in the game being customizable, it looks promising. Sony wrapped it up with yet another teaster trailer for Gran Turismo 5 and and a demo of God of War III (March 2010). Overall, Sony has some good games on the way, and the future of its motion controllers looks good if they can turn the prototype into a consumer device much sooner than later. Unfortunately, the introduction of the PSPgo was quite underwhelming, and the fact that it will not be replacing the PSP-3000 makes it seem so unimportant in more ways than one.
Nintendo harped on its new Wii Motion Plus technology, which is coming out this month and will work with games such as Wii Sports Resort, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, EA’s Grand Slam Tennis, Sega’s Virtua Tennis 2009, and Red Steel 2. Nintendo’s peek into the future was not nearly as cool as Microsoft’s and Sony’s. They showed off the Wii Vitality Sensor which reads the players’ pluse. Not much detail was given for the device. As far as the game line-up goes, Nintendo is banking on Mario’s world-wide appeal to strike gold yet again for them with New Super Mario Bros. Wii (with cooperative 4-person multiplayer!), Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mario vs. Donkey Kong Minis March Again (DS), and Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS). Also announced was a new game in the Metroid series called Project Metroid-The Other M. This game plans on utilizing many of the one-to-one precision features of the Wii Motion Plus. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for Nintendo DSi is due out later this year. During the Q&A, Nintendo’s mastermind Miyomoto teased a new Zelda title for Wii coming soon. Some third-party games shown off include Sega’s The Conduit, Capcom’s Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, and Dead Space Extraction (exclusive!). Nintendo also plans on releasing software-only Wii Fit Plus later this year. Again, while the new slew of Mario games has me excited, Nintendo did not do much to surpass the amazement that was the Microsoft keynote.
Microsoft wins E3 2009 in my book. Check out Project Natal videos below.
[Microsoft Source] [Sony Source] [Nintendo Source]
Microsoft Introduces Project Natal:
Natal and Milo [AMAZING!]
Engadget Hands-On/Further Detail with Project Natal: