Who loves E3? Well, evidentially, nobody anymore. However, that shouldn't stop the obligatory post-conference analysis posts from being written. God knows us gamers need something to complain about, seeing how we're generally dissatisfied with everything the big three do.
The Hype: Pre-conference speculation pointed towards some sort of GUI update for the dashboard, especially considering that Microsoft skipped its annual spring update this year. Coupled with rumors the company was tinkering with Wii-like Avatars and a Minority Report style interface, this was sure as shot as any. Other considerations were the unveiling of a new Halo title, the announcement of the long rumored Wii-like motion-sensing controller, the possible announcement of Duke Nukem 3D coming to live, some sort of Sing-star like game, and the usual bevy of game previews and release date confirmations.
So, How'd It Go?: Gone this year was Peter Moore, who left shortly after last year's E3 to join EA Sports. This year's conference was hosted by Senior Vice President Don Mattrick (sorry ladies, he did not sport any GTA4 tattoos). Thankfully, the usual praise of system success was kept to the introductory paragraph (meaning no power point pie charts - hear that Sony!!!), allowing for the entire conference to focus on the games. Something of a rare feat at this year's E3. Mattrick did an acceptable job of not completely boring the audience, allowing the bulk of the content to be presented by the developers (who were responsible for most of the monotony). It was pretty much the usual fare; a lot of confirmation of existing rumors and one big sucker punch for Sony. Game demos for Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5 and a handful of Microsoft created titles were a nice reminder that the 360 is still about gaming. In previous years this might have been slammed for its mediocrity- but, given the competition, this stands as the year's best conference.
The Megatons:
Final Fantasy XIII comes to the Xbox: Arguably the biggest - and only real - surprise this year was the announcement that Final Fantasy XIII, previously an exclusive to the PS3, will also be gracing Microsoft's console on release day. However, to be quite honest, this really isn't much of a surprise as the writing's been on the wall for quite some time.
Games aren't cheap to produce these days; meaning Square-Enix needs to sell a lot of copies of XIII to justify exclusivity to one console. Given this model has been proving more and more frivolous in the last couple of years, it's no surprise Square reached out to Microsoft's large North American user-base to potentially make up more sales. Coupled with a diminishing Western market-share and general finical woes, this move was inevitable. In fact, the only people probably surprised by this announcement were 360 owners who bought PS3's exclusively for this game – or, possibly those crazy loyalists who still believe Square upholds the sacred honors and loyalties of a Japanese developer who won't bend to Western ways.
The real question is - how big a deal is this really? Recent Final Fantasy outings are shells of their original selves. It doesn't help matters that series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and acclaimed series composer Nobuo Uematsu have moved on (to work with Microsoft of all ironies), creating a noticeable absence in the development of these games. Still, despite the change in tone, Final Fantasy XII was well received and XIII has been a large factor in early PS3 adoption, despite a non-existent release date. Also interesting is how Square has thoughtfully chosen NOT to release the game on the 360 in Japan, knowing the title would only sell on the Japanese-created PS3. Still, the real megaton, is not so much that Final Fantasy is coming to the 360, rather that the Playstation has lost yet another exclusive – and this one was arguably the most important.
The Fall Update: Like the Final Fantasy announcement, this overhaul of the 360 dashboard came as no surprise. Rumors of Mii-like avatars and a newly redesigned Graphic User Interface have been in full force for the last couple of weeks. Still, the fact that Microsoft has gone ahead, with what they laud as, the first major OS overhaul for any major video game system (I'm paraphrasing) is quite impressive and worthy of the buzz.
While one might be quick to throw out the old, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,' adage - you might want to actually USE the current 360 dashboard. It's not that great (especially when compared to the cleaner interfaces of Sony's PS3, Apple TV and even Microsoft's very own Media Center). The new look has streamlined the bevy of previous features into more logical groupings. For instance all system-stored content (be it games, videos, music and photos) are now located under the same category. Likewise, the annoying dependence on the blade to act as the middle man between every purchase and download you make has been wisely eliminated.
The big change is, of course, the new emphasis on social networking. Taking a page from both Sony's still non-existent Home and Nintendo's Miis, the 360 will now offer a visual online identity that can interact (virtually of course) with the 10 million other Xbox Live users. The addition of the community section allows for photo and movie viewing parties, as well as the ability to join scheduled game shows (created by the people who brought you Deal or No Deal). Given the Wii's recent success in pulling more casual players into video gaming, this overhaul certainly makes big strives in making the 360 more user-friendly.
On the other hand, this could also be a potentially huge misstep for Microsoft, as they've done very well creating a reputation as a system for the hardcore gamer. Achievement points are not something a passive player will understand. And, conversely, the guy picking up a 360 in anticipation of Gears of War 2 might not understand why he has to make a cute-digital representation of himself in order to kill massive amounts of Locust. Does a system that prides itself in pushing the most copies of Grand Theft Auto IV really want to reinvent itself as something for the family? The Wii kinda has that covered already.
Still, put me in the "can't wait for this update" camp, a large portion of IGN's 360 boards seem to agree with me as well, with another small minority citing the avatars as their only really peeve. Nothing like a fresh coat of paint to bring new life into an old appliance - Oh, it also doesn't hurt that you'll be able to install all your old games on to the HDD as well. Good bye GTA IV pop in.
You Might Have Missed: Harmonix's President stating that you should be able to transfer "almost all" of your music from Rock Band 1 into 2. Not including the handful of Rock Band 1 DLC that's forward compatible as well. Epic Win!
In Summary: As Don put it, "a lot of Playstation franchises are finding new homes on the Xbox". Add to that the further evolution of the industry's premiere online gaming community and a slew of great (but previously announced) titles for the Holidays, its safe to say the Xbox has a lot going for it all the way into 2009.
The Hype: Pre-conference speculation pointed towards some sort of GUI update for the dashboard, especially considering that Microsoft skipped its annual spring update this year. Coupled with rumors the company was tinkering with Wii-like Avatars and a Minority Report style interface, this was sure as shot as any. Other considerations were the unveiling of a new Halo title, the announcement of the long rumored Wii-like motion-sensing controller, the possible announcement of Duke Nukem 3D coming to live, some sort of Sing-star like game, and the usual bevy of game previews and release date confirmations.
So, How'd It Go?: Gone this year was Peter Moore, who left shortly after last year's E3 to join EA Sports. This year's conference was hosted by Senior Vice President Don Mattrick (sorry ladies, he did not sport any GTA4 tattoos). Thankfully, the usual praise of system success was kept to the introductory paragraph (meaning no power point pie charts - hear that Sony!!!), allowing for the entire conference to focus on the games. Something of a rare feat at this year's E3. Mattrick did an acceptable job of not completely boring the audience, allowing the bulk of the content to be presented by the developers (who were responsible for most of the monotony). It was pretty much the usual fare; a lot of confirmation of existing rumors and one big sucker punch for Sony. Game demos for Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5 and a handful of Microsoft created titles were a nice reminder that the 360 is still about gaming. In previous years this might have been slammed for its mediocrity- but, given the competition, this stands as the year's best conference.
The Megatons:
Final Fantasy XIII comes to the Xbox: Arguably the biggest - and only real - surprise this year was the announcement that Final Fantasy XIII, previously an exclusive to the PS3, will also be gracing Microsoft's console on release day. However, to be quite honest, this really isn't much of a surprise as the writing's been on the wall for quite some time.
Games aren't cheap to produce these days; meaning Square-Enix needs to sell a lot of copies of XIII to justify exclusivity to one console. Given this model has been proving more and more frivolous in the last couple of years, it's no surprise Square reached out to Microsoft's large North American user-base to potentially make up more sales. Coupled with a diminishing Western market-share and general finical woes, this move was inevitable. In fact, the only people probably surprised by this announcement were 360 owners who bought PS3's exclusively for this game – or, possibly those crazy loyalists who still believe Square upholds the sacred honors and loyalties of a Japanese developer who won't bend to Western ways.
The real question is - how big a deal is this really? Recent Final Fantasy outings are shells of their original selves. It doesn't help matters that series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and acclaimed series composer Nobuo Uematsu have moved on (to work with Microsoft of all ironies), creating a noticeable absence in the development of these games. Still, despite the change in tone, Final Fantasy XII was well received and XIII has been a large factor in early PS3 adoption, despite a non-existent release date. Also interesting is how Square has thoughtfully chosen NOT to release the game on the 360 in Japan, knowing the title would only sell on the Japanese-created PS3. Still, the real megaton, is not so much that Final Fantasy is coming to the 360, rather that the Playstation has lost yet another exclusive – and this one was arguably the most important.
The Fall Update: Like the Final Fantasy announcement, this overhaul of the 360 dashboard came as no surprise. Rumors of Mii-like avatars and a newly redesigned Graphic User Interface have been in full force for the last couple of weeks. Still, the fact that Microsoft has gone ahead, with what they laud as, the first major OS overhaul for any major video game system (I'm paraphrasing) is quite impressive and worthy of the buzz.
While one might be quick to throw out the old, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,' adage - you might want to actually USE the current 360 dashboard. It's not that great (especially when compared to the cleaner interfaces of Sony's PS3, Apple TV and even Microsoft's very own Media Center). The new look has streamlined the bevy of previous features into more logical groupings. For instance all system-stored content (be it games, videos, music and photos) are now located under the same category. Likewise, the annoying dependence on the blade to act as the middle man between every purchase and download you make has been wisely eliminated.
The big change is, of course, the new emphasis on social networking. Taking a page from both Sony's still non-existent Home and Nintendo's Miis, the 360 will now offer a visual online identity that can interact (virtually of course) with the 10 million other Xbox Live users. The addition of the community section allows for photo and movie viewing parties, as well as the ability to join scheduled game shows (created by the people who brought you Deal or No Deal). Given the Wii's recent success in pulling more casual players into video gaming, this overhaul certainly makes big strives in making the 360 more user-friendly.
On the other hand, this could also be a potentially huge misstep for Microsoft, as they've done very well creating a reputation as a system for the hardcore gamer. Achievement points are not something a passive player will understand. And, conversely, the guy picking up a 360 in anticipation of Gears of War 2 might not understand why he has to make a cute-digital representation of himself in order to kill massive amounts of Locust. Does a system that prides itself in pushing the most copies of Grand Theft Auto IV really want to reinvent itself as something for the family? The Wii kinda has that covered already.
Still, put me in the "can't wait for this update" camp, a large portion of IGN's 360 boards seem to agree with me as well, with another small minority citing the avatars as their only really peeve. Nothing like a fresh coat of paint to bring new life into an old appliance - Oh, it also doesn't hurt that you'll be able to install all your old games on to the HDD as well. Good bye GTA IV pop in.
You Might Have Missed: Harmonix's President stating that you should be able to transfer "almost all" of your music from Rock Band 1 into 2. Not including the handful of Rock Band 1 DLC that's forward compatible as well. Epic Win!
In Summary: As Don put it, "a lot of Playstation franchises are finding new homes on the Xbox". Add to that the further evolution of the industry's premiere online gaming community and a slew of great (but previously announced) titles for the Holidays, its safe to say the Xbox has a lot going for it all the way into 2009.
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