Hello friends,foes or fellow GameSpotters in general,
For anyone who's been around the videogaming community for a last few days knows that it has been one helluva time with all the news flowing out of the L.A Convention Centre (some of it sweet,some of it bitter) this E3 and the gamers talking endlessly like a sewing circle about anything and everything related to games.
Nobody can deny the fact that this E3 has stood upto everybody's expectations in some or the other way. Sure there were some absences and omissions in the E3 line-up, but it had enough spice in it's ingredients to cook up a memorable "dish" (
) that will keep the gaming world going on for a while.
So let's cut to the chase and I'll start right away with my thoughts on this supposedly crucial E3 of this generation.
Thoughts on E3
The Big 3 Conferences
For many people, E3 starts and ends with the Big 3 conferences. I don't see any wisdom in thinking that way but I can see where their thoughts are coming from. Often, many of the gamers just see these gaming conventions like E3,TGS,GDC as an event where the Big 3 comes to "compete" each other. Since everybody loves taking sides of a particular console manufacturer and loves EVEN more to bash it's rivals (HAH! Take TAHT you NERDIY NINTENDO or YOU MONEY-StEELERs MICROSOFHT or YOU PATHETIC SONY FANBOY (spelling?) ).
For most of such people and a few others, they are just interested in seeing what their beloved side of Big 3 has to show and then nervously hopes that the rivals perform better. If that doesn't happen, they usually tend to get depressed and eat tons of pizza and soda, but well that's a story we all have often heard,right?
The Big 3 conferences ARE a vital part of E3 but not the sole important part as well. I think they are important in the sense that if a console is going through a rough patch, these events like E3 are the times when the console manufacturer gets a chance to bounce back. Microsoft and Nintendo found themselves in a position like that this time.
Grading System : Relative Grading
Dunno how many of you are familiar with this but I'll sum it up in short. The topper (or the best conference) gets an A+. Then the other two conferences are graded WITH respect to the topper. Sweet,simple and effective,IMO. 
Microsoft Press Conference
Pre-E3 expectations :Microsoft were coming to E3 the first time this console generation with their backs against the wall. It's not a particularly pleasing feeling for anybody in that kind of a situation,but MS knew they had to fight against that. People expected them to fire some of their much-dormant "cylinders" (like Mistwalker,Rare,Team Ninja,Turn 10).
Highs :
Project Natalwas the clear winner of the MS conference for me. I know that there were motion sensing controllers shown from all the Big 3, but for me Natal was a winner not only because it DIDN'T try to emulate the Wii and it's Nunchuk, but also because I see it's application extending to a lot of things which mainly go BEYOND gaming. For Microsoft and it's plan to expand living room entertainment I think this goes pretty much in sync with that. Moreover, I was just wishing that Natal would have been used with some of the mainstream action games like Halo 3 and Gears 2. While not everything might look so goody-goody (look at the Cons section for more), but no one can deny that Natal has got potential. Oodles of it actually.
Alan Wake, the psychological/mystery thriller from Remedy Entertainment finally made it's entry confirming it is not vaporware after all. What we saw at E3 just confirmed that Alan Wake is looking to be worth all the wait with some seriously promising storyline and pretty solid looking gameplay. Plus all those stylishly-shot flashbacks will only add to the "cool" and "wow" factor. This is what we expected as the next-step in narrative from Remedy after Max Payne 2.
Forza Motorsport 3 has been probably the most successful racer on the Xbox and the 360 with probably PGR being the only one holding any contention to the title. But, I strongly RESPECT and ADORE Forza Motorsport to the core. Not only because it's such a fantastic and deep racing game, but because it balances both the "simulation" and "arcade" $tyle driving so brilliantly. FM3 was an expected announcement and outside environments,400+ cars is just something a car-buff wants. But the biggest thing was that it is releasing THIS year. Which strengthens the 360 lineup in 2009 to quite an extent.
Left 4 Dead 2 accompanies FM3 in strengthening the 360-exclusive lineup further this year. I had forgotten until recently that L4D was a 360 exclusive when it came to console,which in my opinion is a HUGE advantage. Because in my opinion,the first Left 4 Dead was quite simply THE best zombie game since Dead Rising probably (which means better than RE5 as well ). More co-op,more LAN parties, more hilarious zombie-battling and CHAINSAWS!! HELL YEAHZ! 
Metal Gear Solid Rising. Well, concerning all the press rumor and hype surrounding how Kojima was supposedly "jumping ships" for a MGS game on 360,we were all excited. When the announcement was made (in an amazing fashion. I almost had my heart in my throat when the trademark MGS "alarm" sound rang), there was some genuine excitement and some disappointment. A new MGS game on 360 is good. It NOT being MGS4 is bad. But it's game that is supposedly the follow-up to it anyway and it features Raiden (not a big fan of him from MGS2 but usagi say he's great in MGS4).
Mids:(meaning neither THAT good nor THAT bad) :
Assassin's Creed 2, Crackdown 2 and both the Halo games (Halo 3 ODST and Halo Reach)qualify in this category for me. I can't say I am genuinely excited by them since I haven't played Crackdown nor Halo. But I look forward to see how they perform. I was one of those who HATED the first AC for it's awful controls and I am hoping that the game improves this time around.
The Beatles Rock Band saw McCartney and Ringo come to stage with Yoko Ono ( 
) and I was amused by McCartney's summing up of the game saying, "It's a good game. It's got good graphics!" 
I would still want more songs from Revolver in the tracklist though.
Lows :
Project Natal once again appears in this one as well. For all the praise I mentioned about it, I must also say that I see it's applications in the games "slightly" limited. I think for it to be developed into a proper controller, special games have to be made for it. As for our dream of playing Halo and Gears 2 with Natal, it might take a little MORE vision and approach to do that,IMO.
The absence of major MS-oriented developers like Mistwalker,Rare and Team Ninja (more on the latter in Nintendo section) was disappointing to say the least. Both Mistwalker and Rare were quiet enough before E3 for us to hazard a guess that they might be upto something. E3 has whizzed past and still we don't know what they are working on. 
While I respect Microsoft's aim to revolutionise "living room entertainment", I thought that they "wasted" too much time on explaining all the new XBL stuff like ability to visit Facebook or Twitter through XBL. I mean, I don't CARE whether I can access FB or Twitter from TV or from Web. Why waste so much freaking conference time on that? I laughed loudly when I heard the few boos and sarcastic cheers in the crowd upon the announcement of Facebook on XBL.
Grade : A-
Nintendo Press Conference
Pre-E3 expectations :They were expected to do a LOT better compared to last year's disaster. Plus they've had a rather mediocre year so far,IMO.
Highs :
Without doubt, Metroid : The Other M not only because it is another impressive looking Metroid game that looked slightly different from it's trailers but ALSO because it's development is being handled by Team Ninja ( 
). Knowing Team Ninja, and the talented bunch they can be, I am sure they can come up with a brilliant Metroid game.
A lot of people expected to see a new Mario game but not many expected it to be Super Mario Galaxy 2, the sequel to 2007's hit-Wii game. From it's promos, it looked to be pretty similar EXCEPT it had Yoshi back and Mario riding on Yoshi across the levels is UBER-COOL...so yeah!
New Super Mario Bros. was also another pretty big announcement and that too it's on Wii. I was pretty surprised that this hadn't come earlier. But nonetheless, it's an important game that I am sure many look forward to.
Golden Sun DS is undoubtedly MY pick from Nintendo's conference. I was a HUGE fan of the first two Golden Sun games on GBA, and even my avatar boasts of Isaac, the protagonist of the first Golden Sun ( ) . While many Golden Sun fans are groaning over the fact that it's 3D, I am looking optimistically on that fact.
Mids :
Professor Layton, Mario & Luigi : A Bowser Story, Tatsunoko vs Capcom are few announcements I am merely looking forward to in mild anticipation. Nothing else to add here. Dementium 2 and Silent Hill are some of the games in this category as well.
Lows :
Nintendo faced it's woes once again and I knew it the moment they began announcing the women-focused games and the "tween-centric" games called $tyle Savvy. This was Nintendo's mistake last year and this year, they did almost the same thing by taking sides. I don't understand Nintendo's policy on this and while they were trying to please the casual crowd with all this but I still say they went a little too overboard.
Nintendo's conference was better than last year but stilla severe lack in two departments -- FPS and RPGs remained.The Conduit was shown but I still have lots of doubts on how well a FPS can perform on Wii with it's motion-sensing controls. Sure, Metroid 3 was pretty strong in that sense, but really we haven't had much in the FPS department on Wii and that's for a reason. FPS games and motion-sensing controls don't exactly go hand-in-hand.
Wii also needs a JRPG and I don't mean all those awful Crystal Chronicles from Square Enix that is SUPPOSEDLY a part of Final Fantasy series (yeah..right!)
Grade : B
Sony Press Conference :
Pre E3 Expectations :Sony with the amazing year they've had so far were expected to have the best line-up this E3. But numerous leaks before E3 seemed to have severely dampened their "line-up"....or so we thought.
Highs:
Hmm...there are so many things announced in Sony press conference that there's hard to choose any one. But if I am given a chance to choose one, it'll be God of War III without doubt. I mean,c'mon, it's PS3's biggest game in most of the people's eyes. Sony knows that and they had a stunning gameplay video of it prepared which was jaw-droppingly amazing to say the least. The kind of combos and gore on the screen could make any action-minded gamer go wild.
A massive announcement this E3 at Sony's was also Last Guardian, Team ICO's (the minds behind critically acclaimed "arthouse" games like ICO and Shadow of the Colossus...the two games I so badly want to play) new game which was previously titled Project Trico. With a stunningly beautiful trailer,it did well to arouse enough interest in it. Sony knows it's a huge game for them as well.
Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves comes next for me. Besides the much-improved looking platforming mechanics, the graphics swept me off my feet. I have to admit hands down, that this is one of the best looking games graphically in a technical sense. Either this or Heavy Rain. Besides,this game achieved enough popularity with it's first game to warrant enough attention to it's sequel.
A game that took my attention atleast was The Agent, a Rockstar North made PS3-exclusive whose development is supposedly being headed by the Houser brothers (the ones who have made all the GTA games till date). I think this might turn into something big if Sam and Dan Houser put their heads together rightly.
ModNation Racerswas another title that caught everybody's eye. Mario Kart-ish racing! Hooray! Custom made-sackboy (of LBP fame) like racers! Woot! And custom-made tracks which are made with utmost ease! Double woot! That should sum it up. Looks SH-WEET!
Square Enix and Sony finally let the lid off some of their older titles. FFVII finally saw the light of the day on the PSN this side of the world along with a few other upcoming games like King of Fighters and almost 50 PS1 cla$$ics. Impressive!
Mids :
Most of the PSP-announced titles cla$$ify into this category for me including the PSP Go! . Being an ex-owner of PSP (would have still been an owner if it wasn't for an "accident"),I think the main gripes of the handheld were it's weak battery and long loading time. With PSP Go! and it's sleek looking control panel and the introduction of digitally distributed games instead of UMDs,the long loading times are eliminated. Yet, I believe it's seriously over-priced and I think the weak battery problem will still exist.
The PSP games like Assassin's Creed, Gran Turismo, Persona, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid : Peace Walker are an interesting bunch of titles but none that really catch my eye.JRPG fans should check out the rare PS1 Persona coming out on PSP. It's definitely worth a play.
Ratchet and Clank : A Crack in Time along with the new Jak and Daxter(it's on PS2 as well) game come in this category for me as well. And the mere announcement of Shirokishi Monogatari (White Knight Chronicles) is an okay news I guess.
Lows :
Sony had the least lows from all the 3 conferences,IMO.
I personally thought that MAG was awful. Lame graphics,cluttered screen, poor HUD layout...not much good to say about here!
Use of iToys as motion-sensing controllers looked intuitive in the beginning but once this fact hits you hard, that it's basically the same emulation of Wii and it's Nunchuk, it doesn't seem a big deal to you. Some of the stuff,they used it for were cool but I said it wasn't an original idea and plus it wasn't implied on mainstream games.
Grade : A+
Multi-platformers were the shining stars this E3 as well. Crysis 2 coming to consoles is A HUGE news as well. Thank god,I won't have to buy a supercomputer now.
Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age Origins, Heavy Rain, Modern Warfare 2, Dead Rising 2,FFXIII,the new Zelda game and countless others caught everybody's eye and kept them excited about the future...because hey...after all it is about the future...right?
With that..it's a wrap.
C ya
Lightwarrior179
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Bonus Content :
RANT!!!!!
How do you feel when somebody stabs you once and then stabs you AGAIN at the same point? Painful,isn't it? I have of course not been stabbed, but I think I have felt a pain that is very close to that. In plain simple words....
FINAL FANTASY XIVONLINE MMO COMES OUT IN 2010!!!
This announcement was met with shock EVERYWHERE! After people recovered from the shock, there were all kinds of excited talks and stuff like, "I can't wait for FFXIV...ooh..it looked so awesome from it's trailers!" or some more stuff like, "This is going to be another Final Fantasy cla$$ic. So glad to know that we won't have to WAIT for this one much longer!"
On one hand, someone might rightly say that the never-dying optimism of the Square Enix fans is amazing. Their undying and unquestioning trust and belief on it's company is amazing. Maybe yes,maybe no.
But then there is a stream of pessimism flowing around as well. I don't know how large this "stream" is (most SE fans I've come across cla$$ify in the above category barring a few),but I can say I am one of those pessimists. They say you need pessimists to maintain a balanced society. I don't give a freaking hell about that.
I have problems and a HARD time accepting this FFXIV fact BECAUSE :
A) I don't think JRPGs make good MMOs. Maybe someone needs to whack me or tell me I live in 2117 where JRPGs have advanced beyond imagination, but JRPGs at the present stage do not meet the required conditions to be a good MMORPG in my opinion. 95% of MMOs have hack n slash games with minor variants and a large questing system. FFXI was turn-based and most likely FFXIV will be one as well. Do you seriously think that a turn-based RPG will keep MMO addicts ADDICTED ONLINE for 100+ hours? I say no.
B) Some people say this is good and hope they get to play it for FREE. I say not. PSN is a free service. But since it's free, the developers have to manage their OWN servers online. So, if you play FFXIV on SE's server they will charge you a subsciption fee to play it. On the contrary, Xbox Live is a paid membership. MS manages all the servers for the devs. So,playing a MMO on 360 is free as long as you're a Gold member. So,FFXIV will not be free (also because it's on PC and that's a paid subscription no doubt).
C) My MAJOR problem is something which will come across as me acting foolishly. I personally think that EVERY numbered (in the sense I,II,III and so on) hold a special place in every FF fan's heart. Every FF had something different and something memorable. I see FF I and I am reminded of the simplistic plots which were great in it's heart and so on. BUT, the "tradition" of this broke when FFXI came out. When people tried to think about FFXI,they couldn't remember anything. Because it had nothing that fans could relate to the series (not talking about chocobos and all here). No memorable characters,no emos, no twist endings and stuff like that. NOTHING. Say what, most of the old-time FF fans I know have never even played FFXI unless there was a free trial-period. So, do you expect they will play FFXIV by any chance?
I don't understand why SE are trying to be something they're not. Some call it adventurous. Other pessimists like me call it utter foolishness. I call it "degrading the series by using a numbered game for a MMO".
Alright,forget it. I am being plain foolish or something.
*RANT END*
Comments
My mom was so excited when she saw Ringo and Paul on stage. She was in the kitchen and ran to the tv when she heard it. She made me rewind the program (I was DVRing it off G4) so she could see the game they were talking about. We have to get Beatles Rock Band now
I really hope Microsoft pulls off all of their Natal promises. It will be amazing if they do.
If I were you I would dial back your excitement for Natal a ton. Something like that has a very large potential to disappoint more than succeed, especially since it reminds me of EyeToy too much and that wasn't mind blowing or anything. And don't even mention playing a shooter with something like this ever again. I can't think of a more horrible way to try to play such a game! It would be a disaster. I mean, just try and think about how that would work. Why would you even want to play those games that way? I suspect Natal will end up like every other non-standard controller method, it'll work well with simple applications and that'll be it.
I wouldn't say Team Ninja is MS oriented anymore thanks to Itagaki's departure. Remember, he was the raving anti-Sony, pro-MS lunatic of the team that made sure virtually no other system would get the games he made. Team Ninja is probably going to be a mostly multiplatform developer now (see: Metroid: Other M and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2) and I'm sure Tecmo would prefer it that way.
There is a little inconsistency here: You stated your worries about how well The Conduit for Wii will work with those motion controls, but earlier were excited by the possibility of playing Halo or Gears with motion controls that use no controller at all. You got some explaining to do!
GoWIII definitely excites me. I love me some action games!
ICO and SotC, I have both and yes, they are two of the most memorable games from last gen. Last Guardian looks to be awesome! Also: kitty dragon!
Uncharted 2, yeah, already looks better than the first by a good margin!
PSP Go is definitely too expensive, but I knew it wasn't for me ahead of time. The PSP Go's battery life could be better because there will be no UMD drive to use it up.
I'm very interested in MGS: Peace Walker considering it is an actual main game of the franchise, plus it is being developed by the MGS4 team!
The first Persona on PSP, yes, I want it!
If you didn't already know, I'm most certainly not someone who likes any idea of any motion controls. Not. A. Fan.
Geez, didn't you have anything to say at all?
Also, a port of MGS4 not going to 360 is bad? Isn't a whole new game more exciting? I personally think so. I'd rather have Rising rather than a port of MGS4.
Also, if you don't get excited for ODST and Reach as well as play through the entire Halo trilogy by September 22, 2009, we are done speaking until you do so.
Nintendo did NOT go overboard with casual games. If anything, they didn't focus on it enough. Nothing new was shown really and I doubt the mainstream will praise them this year for that. On the other hand, they went overboard with all the damn new Mario games. And Team Ninja has a lot to prove considering that it's a team of new guys working there and not the old Team Ninja staff. They're made up by name now, not the same people.
Also, I yawned when FF14 was announced. Then I laughed when Sony's motion controller was revealed. Go figure.
I'd post more thoughts and all, but I've got my own thoughts up on my blog.
but if there's one thing that Assassin's Creed did right, it served as a ground work for the possible Ubisoft games.... and one of which is Splinter Cell: Conviction, which is shaping up to be my game of 2009(that and "Scribblenauts" for the DS) if you havent heard about that game you should look it up.
@horseyjesse -- Well,that's Square Enix for you. Hopelessly optimistic and never learning from their mistakes. It's just as if they no longer care about their "beloved" Final Fantasy series any more.
Haha! I remember my mom too being a Beatles fan back then and she thought that both McCartney and especially Ringo were looking much older than they were.
I am not sure if MS will pull off with their Natal promises atleast as far as the mainstream games are concerned for the reasons I stated. I think Natal holds a promise to revolutionise the "Xbox Experience" that MS so much likes to talk about, but still there are few question marks over it which hopefully are cleared away before it comes out .
@thecoolhh -- MAG looked awful to me as well,hands down. Tony Hawk doesn't interest me much since I am not too much into skateboarding or "extreme" sports but if there was any ONE band for whom there would be a deserved game based on them that would be Beatles. I mean they created the term "rock band". Before them there were no rock bands.
While Itagaki might come across a total jerk,he was talented. He knew for sure what he wanted his games to be and he had this no-nonsense kind of attitude that to a certain extent showed up in his games as well (Ninja Gaiden Black is a perfect example of an Itagaki game,IMO). And while he was a raving pro-MS lunatic he did make a game for DS (Ninja Gaiden DS) and appreciated the handheld's capabilities. As for Team Ninja now, I can most definitely see them being multiplatform which doesn't bother me much really as long as I see the quality in their games being maintained. Haha! I guess there aren't many users around here who have Golden Sun characters as their avatars.
Again,related to your question on my "inconsistency" related to The Conduit and Natal,refer to the bottom of this comment please. I being one of those "traditional" gamers too do not like the idea of "motion controls",but at the same time I don't think that should stop me from accepting them as well. Since you're a proud owner of ICO and SotC, you are a source of my envy.
@DrAwesomeMD -- Haha! Quite true.
@mprezzy -- Let's just ignore FFXIV for a moment. And I think I said everything I wanted to and a little bit more than I should have. (in reference to the rant section. I hope I haven't hurt anybody's sentiments ) @Ipodhero176 -- Phantasy Star was a rare example of JRPGs being good at MMOs. Besides that my expectations and excitement about FFXIV are zero. I mean seriously,dude how many of us are going to pay a monthly subscription and play a FF MMO in the SAME year when a "proper FF" (feels like a term I am getting used to saying) game comes out. I am very excited about Golden Sun DS as well and I think that's the final reason I need to get a DS. @Lightfellower -- Definitely! Golden Sun DS was the big moment for me this E3 as well besides a few trailers from ME2, Dragon Age, Alan Wake etc.
It IS exciting to have a new MGS game, no doubts on that. Who wouldn't want a "follow-up" to MGS4 on their system? But at the same time,it's a disappointment that MGS4 won't be coming to 360. But then, maybe, after having finally brought a game on 360, Kojima might be having some thoughts of repackaging MGS4 on 360. I am saying just maybe. I could say the same thing to you,punk sir about the Final Fantasy series. Complete every FF game from 1-12 (I'll pardon the 11 since it's a freakin' bad MMO) until next summer. If not,then expect that to be your Judgement Day. Also,dude,I know you were joking back there, but there are little-somethings called SMILEYS and they're supposed to be used for a purpose. You could have maybe "decorated" your supposed "joke/tease" at me with few of them...y'know. You were yawning at FFXIV's announcement probably because you care little about that franchise. But for me, it was a shocker through and through. Imagine Halo 4 featuring Master Chief coming in 2010 on....iPhone. That would be a sickening blow,right? I felt pretty similar to that. I checked out your blog but I forgot to comment on it. Off I go there after this then!
Continued..
As for usagi, I hope your answer on The Conduit is answered. I don't think Wii and it's Nunchuk ever made good FPS controllers and most probably motion-sensing controllers never might beat the traditional controller or mouse/keyboard when it comes to FPS games. But,since I think that Natal's applications in any mainstream game will be restricted due to it's design, it won't be as bad an idea as a Nunchuk is in general for FPS ( there are times when a good FPS comes on Wii, Metroid Prime 3 for example...that's an exceptional case).
, did you just give me THREE responses? 
Now, you can't say the same to me about FF because I don't own the systems for FF, but you own the system for Halo.
Thus, I win!Also, I yawned for FF14 because it's an MMO. Who cares?
World of Warcraft has a monopoly on the genre and this is a sequel to FF11, which didn't do so hot. Yeah, I yawned. Let's not assume I don't care about FF, if 14 were a regular JRPG, I might care, depending on my enjoyment of 13, which looks fantastic. Also, Halo 4 is not happening. Halo games that take place BEFORE the events of Halo Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and 3 are all a possibility, see ODST and Reach, but a direct Halo 4 would be it's own new story. So I doubt it'd even be called Halo 4. I'm sure we'll see the Master Chief again , but I doubt it'll take place AFTER Halo 3, I'm sure it'll be a pre-Combat Evolved game he shows up in. I like Natal because it isn't just for games.
When you mention secondary functions, you redeem your statement. You weren't specific enough before. But Natal looks to complement standard controllers which makes it much stronger than either Sony's or Nintendo's controllers which try to replace them.Personally, I think Natal is much more restriction free than Nintendo and Sony's options.
It's open and free-form, and a great complement, like relish on a hot dog or something. I hope these smiley's were sufficient
for your discerning tastes.
A smalI example in Fahrenheit where you had to control characters in a "cutscene" where a flick of analog would make him/her do one action and so on. Now this can be replaced with a much more immersive action like a wave of hand in front of Natal to pick up a cup of coffee in the game.
I am sure this can be further expanded to other genres as well. Like selecting an army in RTS can be done by fingers (point and drag, instead of click and drag if you get what I mean).
@thecoolhh -- I am sure there are many including the ones whose comments have appeared before and after yours (usagi and NeonNinja) who aren't huge fans of The Beatles. Many might think that they deserve too much praise and attention even 40 years after the band broke-up. But one just cannot deny their importance in modern music. The techniques they invented back then have evolved into countless genres (psychedelic and electronica are main examples),whereas their romantic ballads remain popular.
Yeah,you've got a point that you don't own a single system with a FF game...so yea, I guess you win!!
But next time, victory shall be MINE!
And as is my nature of being able to see BOTH the sides, I think I am slowly seeing the "good" side of FFXIV. The reason I'll mention in my next blog, but that doesn't mean in any way that I am for FFXIV. I strongly condemn it. Since I haven't played Halo 3 (nor any of the Halo games), I believe that Halo 3 puts a full-stop to the series in a literal sense. If that's so,then it's clever for Bungie to do so. I don't like the idea of "open endings" that leave the probability of a sequel which at times only spoils the series' story. And Halo Reach is a prequel to Combat Evolved,if I am not mistaken?
I agree with you that Natal is less restricted and as I mentioned in a certain possible applications Natal to usagi (above comment), it definitely seems like that. And hey,bro. You needn't have used so many smileys just to please me. I just was kidding and you took it seriously.
| NeonNinja wrote: |
| But Natal looks to complement standard controllers which makes it much stronger than either Sony's or Nintendo's controllers which try to replace them. |
While I think using Natal in tandem with a normal controller could be a decent idea, MS certainly didn't pitch it that way in their conference. They kept reiterating over and over about how with Natal "you are the controller," how there is no need for anything in your hands, and how easy it is to use. It was very clear from their conference that MS is trying to push this towards the mainstream non-gamer than people like us who might like the idea of using Natal with a normal controller. I'm saying all of this because it is obvious that MS is trying to use Natal to replace controllers and NOT compliment them. Go check out that part of the conference again if you don't believe me. I'm not saying it'll never be used in the way you guys would like to see, but I wouldn't expect it to. In other words, set expectations to low.
And if Natal turns out to be like what you say it will then it will be quite disappointing. But that won't mean much since me and Neon (if I can speak for him
) have set low expectations on Natal. After all,the idea behind motion-sensing controls is far from being realised even in this gen and if MS is able to apply Natal in any one of the ways I gave an example of, it would be a great achievement.They did say, "With Natal you are the controller" but who knowing the marketing and hype-generating tricks these companies use it might just be something to attract non-gaming crowd's attention. Maybe,there's a possibility (however unlikely it may seem right now) that Natal might turn out opposite from crowd's expecations (and hence more of what we want it to be).
Also, I don't think Natal has the potential to replace the primary controllers at all. How would you control a game with Natal? So, I doubt if Natal is ever going to become a primary controller. And if MS plans to do so, I wonder how.
Still you don't have any right to call me punk,punk sir!
Again, though, I hope you remember me saying that motion-controls don't really have a bearing on my enjoyment of games. They're either there or not. I don't know if you read my recent E3 post on my blog, but I gave seperate conference grades and seperate system grades, so while I thought MS had the most exciting and fun to watch conference, I thought both the 360 and the PS3 are going to be neck and neck in quality games.
I'm not really excited for Natal, it looks cool and unique and MS made a splash at E3 with it, and apparently based on what I've read the thing works really well, but I'm not looking for it to be integrated into my games. I just think that it can be pulled off if done right.
i knew your rant was gonna be about FFXIV.... i get why you're upset, even though i'm not necessarily as pessimistic as you. I was more surprised about the announcement than displeased with it being an MMO, but seeing as how i'm more a jrpg fan than a FF fan, i would definitely at least give it a try, without prejudice. Maybe instead of competing with WoW (which would be kinda silly), perhaps they are aiming to reach jrpg lovers who aren't into the hack-n-slash genre (like me) but who would like to try an MMO.
We shall see
, blog full with Final Fantasy Awesomesauce , dude you ve convinced me enough to try FF . I LIKED THE ff13 demo @ e3 , it surely looked amazing , will definately be getting FFVII & FF13 . project natal was cool , cant wait to check it out myself , all the big 3 did well this year , almost everyone had their hands full this year with e3 . i dont know 4 some reason gs in not updating my friends blog list, weird , was checking out your blog & found 1 epic blog . psp go is indeed very expensive for 250 $ , plus with apple s recent 99 $ i phone announcement , it ll be a hard time for sony to sell the psp go , good news is , we are getting a ton of new psp games to play , GT , LBP FTW Modnation racers looks good , its like mario kart getting the lbp treatment , heavy rain looks quiet amazing , saw the new trailer , i guess this is our indigo prophecy sequel
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I agree about FFXIV...They don't need another online FF game, and if they wanna make another online FF game, why not name it something along the lines of FFXI-2? They really wanna screw with the numbering tradition...haven't they F-ed it up enough already?
As I said in one of my comments to Neon, I am someone who sees both the point of views. My "alternate" view on FFXIV will come in next blog. But that doesn't mean I support that "alternate" POV.
@NeonNinja -- If I had no sense of "humour" (that's English,BOY!
) then 99.99% of your words would seem like an alien language to me. Since you keep cracking jokes most of the time,wise punk! @kingkilla3 -- Exactly! Those were what the names should have been. Then I would have one reason less to hate the announcement of FFXIV. And when you said, "The graphics are good", I was immediately reminded of what Sir Paul McCartney said about Rock Band Beatles.
Also, if you haven't played JRPGs before,then their stories are like our Bollywood movies. Unpredictable and often emotional.
But where they differ from our Bolly movies is that they are much more complex and are narrated with more finesse.
And gameplay-wise, Heavy Rain is definitely looking like an Indigo Prophecy sequel.
@Chezzanator -- Finally,someone who thinks that SE is keen on screwing the FF series by putting MMOs for the Roman numeral FFs.
Can't wait for Golden Sun DS!
It would have been very funny if he had said that. But then, he wasn't called only for jokes,was he?
I was here for E3 and watched the confs and was pleased with what Sony and Microsoft came to show, however Nintendo I was seriously dulling going to sleep. I also loved Project Natal though I am skeptical about how its limit can proceed, its demo was good though still left wondering just how far can it really go in terms of virtual gaming? This is where Sony's motion show was more clearer in displaying what it could do. It might have been a step down from what Natal is gonna try achieve but at least they showed exactly what it could do, I was quite impressed by both.
Overall though, I enjoyed Sonys conf the most, in just showing mostly its software titles. Only one prob though, while it did want me to get a PS3 most of these AAA titles wont be out till 2010, so I'll hold off getting one till then. Still, I got a load of 360 titles to grab in the coming 6 months so no biggie!
Btw, I'm with on FFXIV. I think it's crap SE are making another MMO title, STILL with the damn main title! It's like they knew they were gonna make more than one MMO FF game, either that or their keen on adding the FF number higher! FFXV should be out in 2012!
SE is just trampling every old-FF fans sentiments by making the same mistake TWICE-- putting an MMO as a "sacred numbered" FF game!
jaykho213