So, summary of the conferences (I'm not talking about anything that was shown outside of the conferences)
Microsoft did an awful job. It looked like it was going to be great when Call Of Duty Black Ops appeared, with impressive graphics; then the even more impressive MGS Rising was shown. But at that point, we were shown GeoW 3, then Fable 3, then Halo Reach, and they all looked exactly like their predecessors, and it was starting to be boring. And then the real horror began. They started to go on and on and on about Kinect, explaining features that seemed useless and cumbersome, mimicking almost exactly the awful conferences that Nintendo did in the last few years. A contract with ESPN was announced which might be important for some people, but they talked about it for way too long. Kinectimals, a Nintendogs ripoff with a tiger that also uses Kinect but with no apparent benefit. Kinect Sports. Kinect Adventure. All boring, ridiculous, ugly games that are apparently intended to make the 360 look like a Wii (when I say that, I don't have Metroid Prime and Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros in mind, but rather Just Dance and Cooking Mama and Wii Sports). YourShape from Ubisoft looks like the most solid attempt to do a serious fitness game, but it's still a fitness game. Dance Central looks somewhat stupid, but then again so does DDR. A Star Wars video and a demo of a Kinect-enabled Forza Motorsport (we saw no actual racing, only a car in the desert). And finally, the new 360... which is not a major redesign at all actually, the price is the same, the size is almost the same, and the HDD is just 'normal' (as opposed to the outrageous price Mircosoft charges for the current 360 HDDs). Let's not talk about the 'press corruption' incident, it's bad enough as it is. The worst E3 conference since a long time.
I didn't get to see EA's, but from what I've been told, they did a good job, showing what was expected in a clean and entertaining way. Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (looks good), Dead Space 2 (apparently a very impressive video), Medal Of Honor, MMA, EA Active 2, NFL, The Sims, Crysis 2... and finally an awesome Bulletstorm video and an even more awesome The Old Republic trailer. I'm seeing it now, I'll update my impressions later.
Then came Ubisoft. It started with Tetsuya Mizuguchi himself demonstrating the amazing Child of Eden (okay, it's Rez 2, but there is probably no better way to start a conference than with this game). Then Assassin's Creed Brotherhood was shown, with emphasis on the epic scale and the multiplayer, while the graphics remain as mindblowingly good. After that, Shaun White came on stage to talk about the last game he's lending his name to, and it looks very innovative - a mix of Jet Set Radio, Skate and De Blob. You create your environment as you skate; for instance, a rail can extend freely and lead you wherever you want it to. Definitely surprising, in a good way.
And after that we were shown a confusing new laser tag toy: apparently Ubisoft is looking more and more into hardware design. It's designed by Frederick Raynal if I'm not mistaken, it looks clever, and it's probably going to sell a lot. The hardware trend continues with Innergy, a probable competitor to the Wii Vitality Sensor, although this seems to be aimed at an even more casual audience, for purely relaxing purposes. Only one game seems to be compatible, and it doesn't look like they intend to do more, strange.
Then a Raving Rabids video, followed by a very good Ghost Recon Future Soldier demo, followed by the only two relative failures of the conference: Driver: San Francisco and the exact replica of the YourShape presentation that happened in the MS conference.
The goodness came back immadiately after that though, with a trailer of Eric Chahi's new project which looks intriguing, and then Rayman: origins, without any rabbits. It looked awesome and beautiful, but the underlying annoucement - that of an accessible toolset with which Rayman is being made by five people only, is even more important. The next one is also ground breaking: Ubisoft is starting a whole new line of games based on Trackmani, with a high focus on user-created content. To finish, Yves Guillemot announced a Michael Jackson game.
This was the definition of a successful conference. Big annoucements, lots of content, surprises, and a clear explanation of the company's vision which seems to be shifting with the new era we're entering (that of motion control, 'camera control' and 3D), presented in a light and humourous tone.
Nintendo was next. How to put it... they really shot themselves in the foot with that Zelda demo. The game looks good and it is going to be awesome I'm sure, but nothing - I mean nothing worked as it should have in the demo. How can a Zelda showing be so disappointing? The controls look cumbersome, and I never thought I'd say that about a Nintendo game, but evidence is here, Miyamoto can't even play his own game (I also don't like the choice they made of replicating the player's movements in-game, but that's my opinion). I think the interference excuse was bullshit, but we'll have more feedback from journalists later. Then they showed Mario Sports, Wii Party and Just Dance 2, which were probably planned to go somewhat unnoticed after Zelda, but since it was such a mess, it only makes things look worse.
Finally, bigger franchises are pulled out: Golden Sun DS (nothing new here, it's the same old thing with new graphics and it works), Goldeneye Wii (same old thing too but with the same old graphics this time, it looks like the original).
Epic Mickey was the conference's big surprise: it looks gorgeous and amazing, Warren Spector lives up to his reputation. Same thing for the next game, Kirby Epic Yarn. Nintendo is getting back up from the initial fumble. Dragon Quest 9 is shown, nothing new, the game's already out. Followed by a new trailer for Metroid: Other M in which we see everything that makes Metroid what it is: exploration, lonelyness, sidescrolling AND first-person phases. After that came a new surprise, although it was somewhat predictable: Donkey Kong Country Returns, from Retro Studios.
And finally, the 3DS! It is amazing and honestly it's been a while since we've seen a Nintendo console receive such a universal praise. Kid Icarus is shown and it looks good, although the gameplay seems subpar. Many titles are revealed for the handheld, including Nintendogs&Cats, DJ Hero, MGS, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy...
All in all, Nintendo did a pretty good job, but it was not as incredible as what they're capable of. Many franchises but nothing revolutionary, everything seemed like it was 'generic Nintendo' (this is a very high praise). The biggest moments were Kirby, Epic Mickey and the 3DS, with DKCR and Kid Icarus closely following. I'd say it's close to what EA did: as good as expected, but not jaw-dropping.
Finally, Sony... ugh. The first hour and half was so boring. We were shown Killzone 3, Sly, MLB, and many other games in a couple of videos that were displayed over and over and over again, or so it seemed since everything looked the same. Tretton, Hirai and Butler did their best to convince us that what was on the PS3 could not be achieved on any other console, with a big emphasis on 3D and Move, but it simply didn't work: the two games that were used to demonstrate this, Sorcery and Tiger Woods, looked completely feasible on the Wii, when it comes to their controls at least. There was a lot of lag with Move. We got to see so many teasers but no actual content: Invizinimals, God of War, EyePet, Heroes on the Move (feturing Ratchet, Jak, Sly, Clank, Daxter and another guy)... boooring. We even got to see an ad that had yet to air on TV... how does that even concern us? This was clearly Sony speaking to its shareholders only, and not giving a fuck about the audience.
And then all of a sudden they remembered they had actual things to talk about so they demoed Little Big Planet 2 which looks fucking damn impressive, quickly slipped an announcement about PSPlus (the XBLGold equivalent, no wonder they tried to make it go unnoticed), Medal of Honor, Portal 2 (that was the surprise Vavle was talking about! I'm sure the world hunger problem could be solved with the check Gabe Newell must have received), FF14, and an amazing-looking GT5.
To close the conference, Twisted Metal for PS3 was unveiled. It's ugly. It might be fun though, but it's hardly the kind of game you close a conference with.
This was not as bad as Microsoft, but gosh it was boring. Why did they wait so long before showing LBP2? Who knows.
Don't expect anything revolutionary from Move. It's just a Wiimote, nothing more. Don't expect anything from Kinect either, I doubt anyone will use it for anything that we haven't seen with the EyeToy. The 3DS and the 3D in general, however, are going to storm the gaming world for sure.
Now only Konami is left :)
