E3 News Thread

[tenchi86]

Well, since there is not a thread for E3 already I figured I would go ahead and make one. Basically I will just list important facts about each parties E3 conference under the respective companies name.

Microsoft:(Xbox First followed by Computer)
Xbox360 Games:

• Football games now at 60FPS (They were 30FPS last year)
• Mass Effect to be released in Nov
• Halo 3 Demo Review (SPOILER)
• SceneIt game based upon the board game will be an Xbox360 Exclusive

Network:

• Over 7 Million XLB members
• Disney will soon be releasing many of its classics films on XLB

Misc:

• Europe gets the Elite SKU Aug 24
• Halo Edition SKU coming soon

PC:

• Viva Pinata will be released on the PC
• Gears of War will be released on the PC with bonus content and a map maker
• More then 60 "Games For Windows" will be released this year

Sony: (PS3 first, then PSP)
PS3 Games:

• Haze to be exclusive atleast for Holiday Season
• Unreal Tournament to be exclusive atleast until 08
• New IP "Infamous" announced
• NCSoft signed exclusive deal with Sony to develop games for the Playstation 3
• Metal Gear Solid to remain exclusive and be released early 2008, it will also be the last in the series
• Home to feature live blogging and social networking website
• Over 200 Disk based games this year, 15 will be first party exclusives
• Echochrome announced for PSN
• Wipeout to run at 60FPS in 1080P
• Gran Turismo Prologue to feature online play
• Unreal Tournament will support user credit content
  

Misc:

• Epic & Midway have agreed to optimize the Unreal Engine for the PS3
• Killzone Demo Review

PSP Games:
Many were announced but I honestly do not know which are considered new, if anyones cares to help me out please do.


Misc:

• New PSP model that includes Video Output, Lighter weight, and is thinner
• 2 New colors coming including Ice Silver and White Darth Vader

Nintendo:
Games:

• Super Mario Galaxy to be released November 12
• Super Smash Bros Braw to be released December 3
• Mario Kart for Wii to be released 1st quarter next year and will feature online play and come with a Wii Wheel
• EA Sports games to be Internet enabled by years end
• Wii Fit to be Nintendo's new fitness game and will utilize a new Wii Balance Board controller

Misc:

• Wii Zapper (Gun) revealed
• "Check Mii Out" Channel coming soon

Trailers: (Currently all Multi-platform game trailers are Xbox360 versions.
If there is any noticeable difference in the various versions I will update
them later)

Xbox:

• Halo 3: Trailer 1 Trailer 2
• Mass Effect
• Xbox Live Arcade
• Halo Wars
• Project Gotham Racing 4
• Lost Odyssey
• Ace Combat 6

Sony:

• Wipeout HD
• Gran Turismo
• Pain
• Home
• Killzone Trailer 1 .
  
• Uncharted
• Little Big Planet
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Echocrome
• Infamous
  

Nintendo:

• Wii Fit
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Metroid Prime 3: Currpurtion
• Super Smash Bros. Braw
• Mario Kart Wii
• Mario and Sonic Olympic Games
• Rayman Raving Rabits 2
  

Multi-Platform:

• Assassins Creed
• Call of Duty 4
• Resident Evil 5
• Haze
  

PC:

• Gears of War (PC)

So far thanks too:
Rozal
z0n3


I will continue to update this as more news comes and reorganize it when needed.

(If anyone has facts to add, please post them in bold in a reply so I do not miss them and am able to add them to this initial post.)

 

[Rozal]

Halo 3 trailer: http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...=66&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

 

[tenchi86]

Thanks, I updated the first post with trailers and will add more tomorrow.

 

[z0n3]

TeamXbox got to see the first level of Halo 3 and placed atheir impressions on their site. Do not view if you don't want to read any spoilers. I have not read it myself for that reason.
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1668/Halo-3/p1/

 

[blueswitch]

I'm pretty impressed with Mass Effect...I mean I have though this always looked good and have had good expectations for it...but that characters look great in it.

 

[tenchi86]

Yeah, Mass Effect looked pretty good. It is a game I will definitely be picking up. Overall though I thought the Xbox conference was pretty boring and really seemed like they almost had nothing big to say. I mean they went over numbers for the first part, then as far as I can remember the only game they announced was Sceneit, with trailers of already announced games following. (The trailers were of course very nice to see, but honestly the only two that really jumped at me were Mass Effect and Call of Duty)

Nintendo I though did a pretty good job at getting some dates out to the public and expanding on their casual gamer strategy.

Sony IMO easily had the best presentation, which both host of the feed I was watching also seemed to think. I was a bit let down by no Firmware update and I know many people really wanted rumble, but they covered those two mistakes up pretty well by making many good game announcements and had a few good trailers.

 

[deception``]

UT3 is a timed exclusive for the PS3 and PC. The 360 version will be released early next year. There will probably be around a 2 month gap or so.

With all the other games coming out this year, I'm pretty glad this happened. So many blockbusters at once presents a serious hit to my wallet.

deception``

 

[z0n3]

Yeah the MS booth didn't have any big announcements. All the heavy hitters were announced previously but the same was true for the Sony booth.

 

[tenchi86]

Sony didn't announce any new Metal Gear Solids or Homes, but they did have some pretty good news. NCSoft working for them is a huge deal as they create many of the top MMOs being played today. UT3, and Haze being even just timed exclusives is pretty big news as those are both huge games and will now miss Holiday season on the Xbox which since most people don't follow the industry close enough to know it's only a time exclusive it should help push some more PS3. The new IP Infamous also seems to have a lot of potential and IMO so does Echochrome. Also, I think it was a pretty big shocker for most people (myself included) that the Killzone demo lived up to the graphical hype, and now that the Unreal engine is being optimized to a greater extent for the PS3 many more games should start to improve in visuals aswell. Mainly though they just went into how already announced games are shaping up and being improved, which most were looking pretty impressive. (Sorry for the terrible grammar, day off and I am just waking up from a nap.)

Update: Turismo 5 Prologue was also big news. Full online play and improved graphics to the point of photorealism all to be in the PSN store.

 

[Rozal]

Great stuff

 

[tenchi86]

Updated first post with more videos. If anyone noticed anything I missed please let me know so we can make this a complete all in one thread.

 

[deception``]

Sony didn't announce any new Metal Gear Solids or Homes, but they did have some pretty good news. NCSoft working for them is a huge deal as they create many of the top MMOs being played today. UT3, and Haze being even just timed exclusives is pretty big news as those are both huge games and will now miss Holiday season on the Xbox which since most people don't follow the industry close enough to know it's only a time exclusive it should help push some more PS3. The new IP Infamous also seems to have a lot of potential and IMO so does Echochrome. Also, I think it was a pretty big shocker for most people (myself included) that the Killzone demo lived up to the graphical hype, and now that the Unreal engine is being optimized to a greater extent for the PS3 many more games should start to improve in visuals aswell. Mainly though they just went into how already announced games are shaping up and being improved, which most were looking pretty impressive. (Sorry for the terrible grammar, day off and I am just waking up from a nap.) Update: Turismo 5 Prologue was also big news. Full online play and improved graphics to the point of photorealism all to be in the PSN store.

1. Killzone looks great, but we won't see it until 2008.

2. The effects of UT3 and Haze on the PS3 are marginal this holiday. I say this because there are two MEGA-blockbusters being released at the same time: Halo 3 and GTA4. Both titles are expected to set sales records and are going to steal thunder from many other great games [like Lost Odyssey] being released toward the end of the year.

3. Unreal Tournament is, and always will be, primarily a PC game. I expect this to put a dent into sales on both console platforms.

deception``

 

[tenchi86]

1. I don't expect it to help much this Holiday, but it's still nice to see that Sony was not bluffing all this time. Also makes me excited to think of what we will be seeing graphically in 4 or so years.

2. That is actually why I believe UT3 and Haze are so important. Grand Theft Auto is multi-platform, but Halo is not and as such Sony needs a good game or a few games to counter atleast to a degree the power of Halo. Of course games like Uncharted, Ratchet, Lair, ect will also help, but none of those are strictly FPS games.

3. It is a PC game but that is because it so far has only be released on a PC. With the exception of Unreal Tournament which launched with the PS2 when the console really had no fan base and the game was itself unknown.

 

[deception``]

3. It is a PC game but that is because it so far has only be released on a PC. With the exception of Unreal Tournament which launched with the PS2 when the console really had no fan base and the game was itself unknown.

Quake 3 didn't move Dreamcast consoles as PC was the preferred platform.

Unreal Tournament got great reviews on the DC....but once again PC was the preferred platform.

Doom didn't move Xbox consoles...as PC was the preferred platform.

Quake 4 didn't move 360 consoles as people favored the PC version.

I don't expect this trend to be reversed with UT3 on the PS3 or 360.

deception``

 

[tenchi86]

No game moved Dreamcast units, that is why the system was canceled. Doom was a pretty lacking game besides the visuals, and it lacked features that the PC had. Quake 4 may have not moved consoles but it certainly helped, and it did not have the fame of being developed by the Gears of War people, it also did not allow custom mods. Playstation 3 supports Keyboard/Mouse and custom mods, something nearly all previous console shooters have failed to do, and if you ask any PC FPS person those 3 things are always their defense for saying their version is better then the console version. Also, even if people do favor the PC version, that does not mean the console version did not move systems. Most people do not have a rig that can run UT3 and besides hardcore people most people probably won't even consider upgrading their computers to play it.

 

[deception``]

Playstation 3 supports Keyboard/Mouse and custom mods, something nearly all previous console shooters have failed to do, and if you ask any PC FPS person those 3 things are always their defense for saying their version is better then the console version. Also, even if people do favor the PC version, that does not mean the console version did not move systems. Most people do not have a rig that can run UT3 and besides hardcore people most people probably won't even consider upgrading their computers to play it.

With the exception of a handful of FPS games [Halo would be the gold standard here], most people overwhelmingly prefer the PC for shooters. This changed a bit with the launch of the first Xbox but the gap is still quite large.

Most of the people that care about mods and kb/mouse support will be playing Unreal Tournament on the PC. The majority of gamers that purchase UT3 on the PS3 will be doing so with the Sixaxis. Gamers that think FPS games are best served with a keyboard and mouse (a) already have plans to purchase the game on the PC or (b) likely already have systems capable on running a solid FPS game. Oh yeah, anyone that can afford to shell out $500-600 for a game console can probably afford to upgrade a PC to run today's games.

I'm sure that Unreal Tournament will see some moderates sales on both the PS3 and 360, but the PC effect will be strong here; UT3 will not be a system mover. Nobody is going to buy any console specifically for this game when they can probably buy and run it on a PC for less.

deception``

 

[tenchi86]

You're missing the point. I am sure people will buy the PC versions, maybe even more then the PS3 version. The point though is that as you said UT is not a system seller and as such most people will not be spending 2k on a PC (Most people do not built their own) just to play this game. However, when they grow old of their PS2 or Xbox systems this Holiday and decide to upgrade to a new console they will probably make their decision on what system to go to based a lot upon which system has games that they think look good. Playstation 3 will have a pretty good line-up IMO by that time, but it will be lacking a big FPS game, UT3 (Or as most people will see it, that game that is from the Gears people) and Haze will help fill the void and make Xbox360 seem a bit more incomplete when it comes to FPS titles.

 

[deception``]

You're missing the point. I am sure people will buy the PC versions, maybe even more then the PS3 version. The point though is that as you said UT is not a system seller and as such most people will not be spending 2k on a PC (Most people do not built their own) just to play this game. However, when they grow old of their PS2 or Xbox systems this Holiday and decide to upgrade to a new console they will probably make their decision on what system to go to based a lot upon which system has games that they think look good. Playstation 3 will have a pretty good line-up IMO by that time, but it will be lacking a big FPS game, UT3 (Or as most people will see it, that game that is from the Gears people) and Haze will help fill the void and make Xbox360 seem a bit more incomplete when it comes to FPS titles.

I understood your 'point,' but we'll have to disagree here. With the exception of Halo, most people really don't look at consoles for FPS games. They never have and likely never will. It doesn't matter whether or not someone has a custom or stock PC - people will still flock toward the PC for UT3. Look at how many people play CS:S - everybody plays it but few people actually care about running the game at the best frames with all the eye candy.

Don't believe me? Take The Darkness for example. It's a great game on both the 360 and PS3, but it probably would sell better if it made its way to the PC.

Lastly, the Xbox has traditionally been known as a console that was only about shooters. Keep in mind that Halo 3 is going to launch shortly before Haze and UT3, so I don't think anyone is going to think the 360 is FPS-starved come the holiday season. Halo 3 is going to out-sell both games this year so I'm pretty confident that the 360 will see the bulk majority of any FPS-related sales this year.

deception``

 

[tenchi86]

I understood your 'point,' but we'll have to disagree here. With the exception of Halo, most people really don't look at consoles for FPS games. They never have and likely never will. It doesn't matter whether or not someone has a custom or stock PC - people will still flock toward the PC for UT3. Look at how many people play CS:S - everybody plays it but few people actually care about running the game at the best frames with all the eye candy.

Don't believe me? Take The Darkness for example. It's a great game on both the 360 and PS3, but it probably would sell better if it made its way to the PC.

Lastly, the Xbox has traditionally been known as a console that was only about shooters. Keep in mind that Halo 3 is going to launch shortly before Haze and UT3, so I don't think anyone is going to think the 360 is FPS-starved come the holiday season. Halo 3 is going to out-sell both games this year so I'm pretty confident that the 360 will see the bulk majority of any FPS-related sales this year.

deception``

Of course the Xbox wont seem FPS starved, but you cannot deny people will notice these two games or atleast UT not in it's library. Also according to you Halo is the only console FPS that really matters, so what about Gears of War? That is one of the only reasons the Xbox started to finally sell. What about Socom, it at one point had the largest online community of any game. What about 007 a game considered to be one of the best of all time. Then you have games like Killzone which is probably one of the most anticipated games of the next couple years. Also by your logic Bioshock would not be that well noticed on the Xbo360 as it's being released on the PC, which I am pretty sure you will admit is wrong. Anyway, as we have debated before and I know very well that you will continue to argue your side as I will mine, so I am calling it quits here.

 

[deception``]

Of course the Xbox wont seem FPS starved, but you cannot deny people will notice these two games or atleast UT not in it's library. Also according to you Halo is the only console FPS that really matters, so what about Gears of War? That is one of the only reasons the Xbox started to finally sell. What about Socom, it at one point had the largest online community of any game. What about 007 a game considered to be one of the best of all time. Then you have games like Killzone which is probably one of the most anticipated games of the next couple years. Also by your logic Bioshock would not be that well noticed on the Xbo360 as it's being released on the PC, which I am pretty sure you will admit is wrong. Anyway, as we have debated before and I know very well that you will continue to argue your side as I will mine, so I am calling it quits here.

Halo3 is the one FPS game that has seen massive success on consoles in recent memory, besides perhaps Goldeneye for the N64.

Gears of War is a third-person shooter; Socom was also a third-person game IIRC.

Bioshock is being released on the PC; it also lacks a multiplayer component so there's no pressing need for gamers to flock to this on PC.

deception``