E3 Outsider 2010

Hello Hubpages Community!

Before you ask, no, I was not one of the lucky 46,000 participants who were able to attend this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California. Nerds and geeks from all over the world flooded the Los Angeles Convention Center seeking the privilege to be the first to see and samplel the latest technology and games the gaming industry has to offer.

While I did not get to be at the event, I was fortunate enough to watch the major press conferences live. For the uninitiated the "major" press conferences are reserved for the "Big Three"; Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.

I would like to dedicate this article to exploring the media's reaction and discuss the general public's reaction to each of the Big Three's revelations.

Microsoft was in the tough spot of going first at this year's E3. It's a good and not so good position to be in. On the positive side Microsoft gets to be the one to make the big splash and kick off the biggest week of the year for gamers everywhere. If the show is good enough, they could overshadow their competition all week!

On the flip side, if the Sony and Nintendo really bring the noise, fans could be be swept up by what they see last and the first day celebration could be forgotten.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, I feel that they were caught in the latter. They really relied on their newly renamed Kinect technology (formerly Project Natal) to really generate excitement and fill their sails throughout the week. Due to forced and very rehearsed "real people using Kinect" demos and "been there done that" applications for the Kinect itself Microsoft came away as trying to play catch up with an industry that seems to have been captivated by Nintendo's family-centric platform.

The media didn't respond kindly either stating that Microsoft didn't really show anything unexpected that gamers could get excited about. Like with all gaming hardware, technology is useless unless there are fun games to support it.

It wasn't all bad acting and fake smiles. Microsoft did give fans a detailed look into the cooperative play of the highly anticipated Gears of War 3. This was probably the best part of their conference even though most fans already knew what to expect from super popular Gears series.

Wrapping up the press conference Microsoft announced a revamped and remodeled Xbox 360. With slimmer design, bigger hard drive, built in wi-fi, and Kinect ready this new design cements Microsoft's plan to utilize Xbox 360 for at least another three to five years. The biggest surprise? Microsoft gave away a new system to everyone in the audience... that's right everyone in attendance got a new Xbox... rough industry.

Where Microsoft made a similar mistake that Nintendo made a couple of years back, Nintendo has learned from it's mistakes and catered their press conference to the crowd. That being a mob of eager mostly hardcore gamers.

Nintendo kicked things off with the Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword gameplay and never-before-seen footage. They also gave the world it's first looks at GoldenEye for Wii, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country, Epic Mickey, and a new Kid Icaris that just happens to be coming out for Nintendo's new 3D handheld system the Nintendo 3DS.

As if these first time announcements weren't enough, Nintendo gave it's fans a glimps of what is in store for them by displaying the list of developers who are already working on games for their new System including the powerhouses behind Metal Gear and Kingdom Hearts.

Big game after big game built up to Nintendo actually providing enough sample 3DS's for the media to get their first hands on with the new 3DS and much to my surprise, everyone seemed to love it despite it really only being a tech display and no actual games were available to try.

For those of you who are curious, the new Nintendo 3DS is a fully 3D hand held system like the current Nintendo DS. One important feature needs to be pointed out here. You don't need to wear goofy glasses to see the 3D!

Nintendo did exactly what they needed to do and put themselves in very strong position. They defintely made everyone forget about Microsoft and Kinect and now challenged Sony to step up big time or else the fall would be very far from the high that Nintendo had just created.

Exclusive was the word of the day for Sony. Infamous 2 and Killzone 3 headlined a list of games coming exclusively to the PS3 in the next 12 months. Sony did, in fact, have their own motion controller to show off, the Sony Move, but really focused on the games. This was a critical move (no pun intended) as they could have very easily fallen into the same trap as Microsoft did with the over saturation of casual games and tech demos.

In addition to some pretty big titles and their new motion controller, Sony also unveiled it's new subscription based PSN Plus. PSN Plus was met with mixed reviews as most fans were worried that they were going to have to pay to play like Microsoft's Xbox Live. Sony allayed those fears by clarifying that all of the current features of PSN would be free and that only the premium content provided by PSN Plus would have a price attached. Whew.

The highlight of Sony's press conference came at the end. The lights dimmed and from off stage an engine roared to life. Out comes David Jaffe followed by Twisted Metal fan favorite Sweet Tooth in full makeup riding a fully customized icecream truck of death. With them came the announcement of a brand new Twisted Metal game.

All-in-all Sony had a solid showing if not as thoroughly impressive as Nintendo's. Each of the three conferences had high points and I think it definitely shows gamers that they have a lot to look forward to in 2010 and 2011.