E3 - Pre-Show Announcements Overwhelm, Entertain

Thanks to GameSpot for its massive E3 update list, GameSpy for a similar E3 index, IGN for its latest E3 news, and 1UP for its E3 dispatches, as the major gaming sites update on "hundreds of new games" revealed leading up to the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. New highlights include an "epic three-hour press conference" revealing Konami's new games, including screenshots of Metal Gear Acid for PSP, and elsewhere, screenshots and a preview of Metroid Prime Hunters for Nintendo DS, the announcement and screenshots of "unique armband"-toting EyeToy: AntiGrav for PS2, preview and screenshots of Mario 64x4 for Nintendo DS, and much, much more. What's been your favorite hardware or software revelation so far?

Comments

Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[tttonyyy]

Given the choice I'd go for the Ninty DS. That optical drive on the PSP is bound to cause battery life issues, and I quite like the dual-screen arrangement over the PSP single screen (even though it's a good size). Is it just me, or are the titles announced for the PSP not very exciting compared to the DS? At least Nintendo have got some innovation in there rather than churning out the usual sports muck.

Re:Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah Sony is saying 2-2.5 hours when the screen is active and 10 with just music. Compared to Nintendo's claim of 10 hours for the DS...

Re:Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[*weasel]

2.5 hours of gameplay?

If that's true, Sony already lost.

Re:Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[hambonewilkins]

At least Nintendo have got some innovation in there rather than churning out the usual sports muck.

Yes, they really innovated the hell out of: Animal Crossing DS, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, an unnamed Super Mario Bros game, Super Mario 64X4, and WarioWare Inc.

This certainly looks a lot fresher than the PSP offerings!

Re:Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[Anonymous Coward]

The DS seems to be solidly designed and delivers on all fronts. Backlit, SNES-style four button pad, larger for larger kids, wireless 16-player multiplayer (sooo convenient), microphone and headphone jacks, full GBA compatability, and all while managing a respectable 10-hour battery life. As far as new software goes it's almost too good to be true the number of games they have coming out. Sure, that's all what you should expect, but when you get it and it delivers it's something else than just expecting.

I'm looking forward to Animal Crossing DS myself. Could you imaging having people (up to 16, I hope) wander into your town by just turning on their DS wireless from ~100 feet away. Imagine how many people you'll just bump into playing ACDS waiting in the airport or on a train. And the pen-based typing system is a godsend compared to the original Gamecube version. I'd venture to say it's easily superior.

If 10% of the DS games can surprise me like Animal Crossing DS I won't need any other system.

Re:Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[metroid composite]

I'll agree that most of those look like rehashes. The big exception I've seen is Warioware, where the gameplay is largely through the touch screen which changes the dynamic dramatically from the first one allowing for several different gameplay options.

Then again, name means little; tell me Super Mario Bros 2 is just a Super Mario Bros 1 rehash. (Given that it wasn't even a Mario game to start with, but repackaged as one...).

There's also that little fact where guess which games make headlines in the previews? The big name stuff--cheap sequels to games that turned out really popular. You have to sift through the garbage if you want to find anything. PSP games people are excited about are Metal Gear, Gran Turismo, Viewtiful Joe, and Devil May Cry. XBox games people are excited about are Halo 2, Half Life 2, and Doom 3. GC games people are excited about include various things with Zelda, Resident Evil, Metroid, and Mario in the title.

Re:Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[NanoGator]

"This certainly looks a lot fresher than the PSP offerings! "

The second touch screen, wireless connectivity, and built in microphone didn't freshen things up compared to the "almost as good as a PS2" PSP which also has familiar games?

Re:Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[hambonewilkins]

I think if you had read my post, you would understand that I was replying to someone who said the DS was more innovative in its offerings than the PSP. As it turns out, they both are just rehashing old hits.

Oh, and please stop checking out my ass.

Re:Nintendo DS looks most impressive

[aliens]

Just a note on Battery life. If you play without sound battery life is insane.

I've been playing Zelda: LTP on my GBA:SP backlit all the time, without sound and I don't know how far over the 10hours I've gone, but I seriously cannot remember the last time I had to dig out my charger.

Big Wow For Next-Gen Portable Graphics

[Babbster]

After looking at the Metroid Prime: Hunters and Metal Gear Acid screenshots, I'm stunned. Small screen or not, we're talking about an incredible graphical improvement in portables. The lighting (or texturing?) in the Metal Gear Acid pics is incredible, and the Metroid pics are beautiful if still a bit jaggy (mainly because the DS resolution per screen is lower than that of the PSP. Obviously, graphics don't make for fun but they sure can enhance it a great deal, as well as providing more of the modern gameplay options with the switch to 3D. Playability is still a question mark with the small screen, but I'm sure jazzed about seeing true portable 3D.

One other thought. Nintendo should give Gamespot the "business" over that screenshot index for Metroid Prime: Hunters. It had me wondering if the pics were a joke until clicking and finding out the index was populated with the low-detail map screen instead of the main game. :)

Re:Big Wow For Next-Gen Portable Graphics

[erasmus_]

Nintendo should give Gamespot the "business" over that screenshot index for Metroid Prime: Hunters. It had me wondering if the pics were a joke until clicking and finding out the index was populated with the low-detail map screen instead of the main game.

I'm guessing you're not a programmer. With the number of screenshots that a site like that is generating, especially during the week of E3, it'd be absolutely impossible to generate an "ideal" thumbnail for each screenshot that they get by selecting the small area that represents each picture best. So in order to get a nice looking thumbnail index page, they surely have software that reduces images to a specific small width, and then cuts them off after a specific height. This makes the index page look good instead of uneven. Simply resizing each shot to fit that small box would distort most of them, so this is the best solution.

And anyway, if you look carefully, you can see a bit of the bottom non-map screen on each thumbnail. It's not Gamespot's fault that Nintendo chose to put the map on the top screen of the DS instead of on the bottom. BTW, 1-up's thumbnails look exactly the same.

PSP vs DS

[bludstone]

An interesting development.

PSP has around 100 signed development houses making games for the system. Now, so does nintendo, but this will be a unique situation.

Personally, Im rooting for nintendo, but I think the PSP will "win," for the same reason the ps1 "won" over the n64. The storage medium.

We shall see. We shall see.

Re:PSP vs DS

[fr0dicus]

I'm not convinced by that. CD was an established media in the first place, and the PS1 was not portable. I wonder if it'll take the punishment.

Although at the price that people are estimating I wonder if it would even succeed without competition. It's too similar to the Game Gear/Lynx for comfort, in terms of price and potentially poor battery life.

Re:PSP vs DS

[wickedj]

I agree in that storage medium was a big factor in the Playstation vs. N64 battle but in portables, this will be a little different.

In a portable, I would think that moving parts would cause serious battery drain. Cart vs. Optical, the cart is going to produce a longer battery life and will have faster access. Plus, they are much more durable than optical. Now, the optical will most likely have a much larger storage capacity. It'll be interesting to see what consumers choose in the long run.

In the end, it will still be about one thing. Games. Consumers will follow where their games lead them. And right now, it's a tough call. PSP has Metal Gear and Gran Turismo. DS has Mario and Metroid. With both having more to come. Mind the fact that the DS is supposedly backwards compatible where the PSP has no previous library.

Re:PSP vs DS

[nicky_d]

It wasn't just the storage system that helped the PS 'beat' the N64, though; Sony's marketing and the focus of its games played a large part - specifically titles like Wipeout, which roped in a huge casual market while Nintendo at launch were wowing the longtime gamers with Mario 64, but hardly attracting the man in the street. Sony continued this trend with titles like Gran Turismo, and generally created the casual gaming market.

That isn't to say Nintendo didn't produce some cracking games, but their market for them was always limited more by their image than by the choice of cartridge technology. Obviously the expense of cartridges didn't help (when Turok came out in the UK, it cost almost twice as much as a new PS game), but games like Resident Evil 2 (admittedly a late entry) showed that the cartridge could compete with the CD, and games from the outset like Mario 64 and Pilotwings proved that Nintendo could deliver the goods regardless of format.

Anyway, the handhelds? Well, being the owner of a NES and SNES, and therefore familiar with the original Mario Kart, Metroid and Mario games. the Game Boy Advance hasn't done much to wow me beyond Advance Wars and Wario Ware. I'm sure it's a fantastic system for someone who's playing Mario Kart or Super Mario World on it for the first time, but I'm clearly a jaded old fart. The link-up options and touch screen sound like they could be promising, if used well. At the same time, the inclusion of an analogue controller on the PSP is important and sadly missing from the DS - though it would probably boost the price and maybe raise the vulnerability of the unit.

The PSP software lineup also feels very familiar, of course, but there is the saving grace that many of these titles are seeing their first handheld iteration, and might gain some novelty points that way. A portable Metal Gear sounds and looks wonderful, if a little antisocial...

At the end of the day, I'll probably get 'em both just out of curiosity and hope. And I'm sure both will have a few great games and a lot of dross. So why on earth I've been wittering on like this, I've no idea. Go Nintendo! Go Sony! Give us hell!

Re:PSP vs DS

[JFMulder]

You can get a discman with 20 hour battery life now, so it's not as if spinning a disc is such a power hungry task these days. Maybe the PSP will cut that by half, which would be alright since the GBA SP has a 10 hour life with light enabled. (Sure, 18 without, but who plays with the light turned off on that thing, except when you're sitting right next by the sun so you have enough light reaching the screen?)

My Favorite?

[Undefined Parameter]

That one's easy--Halo 2. I wasn't able to be physically present at E3, but I'd still gone into it with little enthusiasm and nominal expectations. I expected some more progress from Halflife 2, maybe another movie from the Doom 3 folks, and, if lucky, something from Blizzard, as well. I knew that Bungie was going to be at E3, but all I expected from them was, at the most, another teaser or demo video. They pretty much "submarined" their way into the conference, with just about nothing coming out of them as to whether or not they were even going to be there until last Thursday.

So they showed up, and I wasn't there for it, off studying for a more-important Final Exam. I get back, check a website or two, and WHAM! Halo news sites have gone bonkers. So I get curious and start checking things out... couple of interviews, ok, nothing too awful special, damn spiffy new screenshots, and... sweet jeebus, they had a playable demo and there's already a shakey-cam version of the presentation they gave before they allowed folks to have at it. I watch the presentation, of course, expecting something along the lines of Halo's multiplayer action in look and feel.

Nope, I'm most pleasantly surprised. Even through the really crappy compression and resolution, I'm blown away. Customizable this, that, and another thing, new weapons that look, sound, and work better than anything I've seen in a video game, before, and... destructable environments AND intelligently-designed destructable vehicles!? Woah, momma!

So, yeah... definately going with Halo 2, there, and I'm rather unsure why it hasn't been covered here.

~UP

A mixture

[metroid composite]

In terms of "ooh pretty" it'd be the Zelda pictures. I was also impressed by the overal quality of handheld graphivs.

In terms of gameplay quite clearly Warioware DS. After the innovation with the original, I wasn't sure what more they could add (the GC Warioware didn't seem worth it) but the kind of stuff I'm reading about Warioware with a touch screen...yeah, that's going to be totally new gameplay.

Nintendo DS

[clu76]

The DS looks like it's gonna be "Da Sheeit!" I was skeptical at first. But now the details are out, I can't wait to get my hands on one of these. Favorite features are the stylus and the wireless.

Also looking forward to Zelda, Doom III, Super Mario DS and Tron Killer App.