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I think this year’s E3 has been a strong one from all three companies. Certainly a lot better than in past years, especially Nintendo who have not always brought their best in the last several years. This is a quick overview of how I think each of the three big companies conferences went.

Microsoft

Microsoft seemed to be a bit ordinary and predictable in their approach this year, and it does make me wonder who’s running things over there when you see casual games taking the centre stage at a show where hardly anyone is interested in the majority of those titles. Yes, Dance Central 2 should be a great dance game just like the first one was, but I just think they could have mentioned the game with a quick trailer and then moved on to the next game. It just didn’t seem necessary to demo it to the audience they have in attendance.

In terms of the rest of the show, no real surprises. I suppose 2 Halo games are better than one for fans of the series, but anyone could have predicted Halo 4 and that Microsoft would want to jump on Sony‘s HD remake bandwagon for some quick cash.

Sony

I don’t think Sony had the strongest of shows but it was certainly similar to last year’s in being very consistent and safe in a way while still exciting fans with great gameplay demos of titles like Uncharted 3.

The Vita name for the NGP is starting to grow on me slowly. If I had written this on the day the name was confirmed, then I would have not been in such a great mood about it, but now I can see how it may work. In terms of Vita games, I think they’re doing well for a launch lineup, with Uncharted leading the charge with many other strong titles such as LBP, Killzone, Call of Duty and more all in the pipeline as well as the traditional Sony launch games like WipEout and Everybody’s Golf. I’m pretty confident that they’ll be something for practically everyone when the system ships, unlike the 3DS on launch.

Nintendo

We knew pretty much everything about the Wii U before it was announced. Practically nothing was a surprise except the name. Which I suppose looking at it now isn’t really surprising. It makes sense for Nintendo to keep such a successful brand name going rather than risking a whole new identity for their new system.

The most exciting aspects for me to come out of the conference were the slew of game announcements. Not counting all of the games we already knew about, Super Mario 3D and Luigi’s Mansion 2 were the big stand-outs on 3DS. There wasn’t really anything on Wii that we didn’t already know about but the Kirby game looks to be the pick of the bunch alongside Zelda Skyward Sword.

Mario Kart 3D got a new trailer and now we know what the gimmick will be in this latest version, flying and underwater aspects. I quite like the idea of turning into a big glider and actually being able to control your flight rather than following an automatic path when you fly off a big jump, so I’m looking forward to this. I’ll be a little disappointed if they don’t feature bikes as they were so much fun in Mario Kart Wii but it’s not something that will ruin the game if it’s not included, likewise stunts.

Star Fox disappointed me a bit because I first thought this was a new version rather than the previously announced remake, but it seems like they just re-announced the same old game which isn’t ideal really.

A quick note on the Wii U controller. I hope they change a couple of aspects of the buttons. An analogue trigger is a must for realistic driving games and currently they’re not showing this so I hope they add those. I also was disappointed to see that they use the same design of analogue circle pads from the 3DS on the Wii U which to me doesn’t make much sense. The whole reason you would use those on the 3DS is because a traditional stick wouldn’t fit with the clamshell design of the system. Here, you’re not bound by height restrictions and as the controller is already so big, I would have expected full size analogue sticks just like the Nunchuk and Classic Controller. Not having those I believe will negatively affect precision control.

Conclusion

Overall, I think you would have to say that Nintendo had the best conference. A new system is practically guaranteed to overshadow anything else that’s shown, and it proved to be the case here.

The Vita price point of $250 was a bit of a relief but it’s still going to be expensive here. Then again, even if it comes out at the ridiculous £225 price tag the 3DS launched at, then I’ll be a lot more accepting of paying that much for this device over Nintendo’s one.

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E3 is always an exciting time of year for gamers. We build it up so much, but often are left disappointed or even bemused by some of the things that happen in the big 3 press conferences, especially Nintendo’s in recent years. They’re certainly not the only ones. Sony and Microsoft have both had their fair share of awful, embarrassing shows.

This year is the time for all 3 companies to wow us and justify the mass excitement that goes hand in hand with E3. This is what I’m hoping for from each of them.

Nintendo

I think Nintendo on paper should have the most to talk about on Tuesday. We all know that their new system will be officially unveiled. From what we know, it seems that Nintendo will be going back to their more hardcore route. Whether or not they simply try to bridge the gap between being too casual and too hardcore or go fully in the traditional gaming direction is unknown, but I personally hope that they put their traditional audience first. Casual games can still exist on a hardcore focused system, but not the other way around.

If they are planning to go fully hardcore with the new system then they have to fully match Sony and Microsoft in every way. If they don’t give gamers the online functionality, community features and other functions that they’re used to, then the new console won’t be able to be considered any truly hardcore gamer’s console of choice in this upcoming generation.

Sony

The NGP will surely play a large part in proceedings on Monday night. You would assume that they’ll announce an official name, but probably not a price or release date. Generally, in recent years Sony conferences have either been ridiculed or applauded. However, the last couple, although they were strong showings, mostly focused on demos for games we already knew about, and that’s not really exciting for an event such as this. I hope they really just go all-out with new game and service announcements tomorrow, and leave the demos for the show floor, or at most a quick video montage.

Microsoft

The general trend I can see in the last few years of Microsoft conferences tend to be towards mostly showing demos for 3rd party games as well as some exclusives. Last year marked the addition of casual gaming with the kinect which I hope isn’t such a big focus this year, but I don’t see them ditching their successful casual programme. They’ve also been known to surprise people by poaching games, mostly from Sony when the PS3 was struggling. Unfortunately, you can also expect to hear news such as early releases for MW3 DLC and other things like that. Halo isn’t a series that Microsoft will be willing to give up on now that Bungie are moving on to new things, so I would be surprised to hear something about a new Halo game from another developer.

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How is the health of 3DS looking now, just over 2 months since launch? Well, I don’t know about you but after almost 100%ing pilotwings resort about 2 weeks after the system launched, I’ve barely touched my 3DS on. Except to rub the dust off it of course.

I don’t think anyone can deny how useless Nintendo have been in terms of giving gamers great titles to play in the launch window of the system. In this business games and systems come and go so fast that I don’t think it would be going too far to suggest that some people have simply forgot about the 3DS already. Maybe it’s just that Nintendo aren’t worried as they know they can win back the hardcore in an instant with some big announcements.

With that said, there are good things on the horizon. Big titles are going to start coming in the next month or so, and with E3 about 2 weeks away now, surely Nintendo can’t let that show go by without announcing a plethora of incredible games to get everyone excited about their next generation portable again.

The problem is, the games industry doesn’t work like other tech segments. Unlike apple, Nintendo will never surprise people by saying that a game or system comes out that very day. These things take months and years to coordinate. Unfortunately, this means that whatever they do announce won’t bolster the ailing lineup for the first 2 thirds of this year.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to love the 3DS like I have pretty much all other Nintendo systems over the years, mainly because of the awful battery life and 3D that doesn’t agree with me. I’m willing to give it a shot, and I’m keenly waiting to try out some games. I have pretty much every strong title on my lovefilm rental list currently. As far as games I want to buy and keep, Mario Kart 3D and Animal Crossing remain my top two from the games we know about. I just hope we get those this year, because otherwise it’s going to be a very long wait for some 3DS owners I know.

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I don’t think I’ve made much of a secret of the fact that I have had reservations about the 3DS more than I have for any other Nintendo system I can remember, possibly more than any system launch from all of the manufacturers. The poor launch line-up, terrible battery life for a Nintendo handheld and justified concerns over the 3D effect causing headaches and eye-strain all added up in my mind.

Now that the system is here and in the hands of a great many gamers across the world, we come to the realization that all three of these things are definite problems, albeit some more than others.

The battery life, while not an absolute disaster is still very un-Nintendo like. My DS lite and XL seem to just go on forever, and that’s not mentioning the gameboy series. Those lasted even longer on just AA batteries. Battery technology still remains the bane of gadget makers’ existences. People like Apple, Nintendo and Sony can innovate endlessly on every aspect of their devices, but batteries just haven’t evolved to the same extent. Apple give the illusion of battery innovation, but in reality all they’re doing is just making them bigger and packing them in tighter. This makes them last longer but also has the drawback of being non-user-replaceable. I’m sure the situation will improve with the 3DS lite if that will be the name of the redesign we’ll see in the next couple of years, but I can’t see how it can improve that much, especially if a newer model will likely be slimmer.

Next on the issue list is the 3D effect. Nintendo made a great decision by putting a depth slider on the system. If it had a fixed level of 3D with no off switch or even an adjustable slider with no off then it would have been a terrible move. It’s not that a great number of people are complaining about the 3D giving them problems, but at least Nintendo have given themselves a get out of jail free card in that they can tell people to simply turn the 3D off. They’ve done about as good of a job as they could do to protect themselves from possible lawsuits, and you know someone’s going to try it.

At first, the 3D really impressed me but after that short time, I started to get a headache and felt uncomfortable. This was with 3D at the max setting. I was a bit depressed with my purchase after that and turned the effect off completely to avoid further headaches. When I showed it to my aunt and young cousin they both were fine with the 3D even at max strength. My aunt wears glasses so I was a bit surprised to find that she had no problems with it at all whereas I did. I even went to get my eyes tested for the first time ever, partly due to this discomfort. I was told that my eyes are fine so I’m still no closer to finding out why the 3D isn’t fully working for me which is strange.

When I use 3D now it’s generally only in games and even then, only at less than half of the full effect. It’s disappointing in a way but at least I can still use it to some degree. I would definitely say that it’s personally close to being as bad a situation as I was expecting, so it falls into the same category as the battery life I’m afraid.

The final disappointment is the launch library of games. There’s a couple of gems in the mix, Pilotwings and Super Street Fighter IV, but other than that, it’s very slim pickings indeed. I remember Reggie saying that the 3DS would have the best launch period of any system ever released. Even if he technically means the entire time between launch and E3, I don’t think this is what most people envisioned, as they probably thought at least either Zelda or Kid Icarus would be available at or soon after launch. Even if one of those games comes out before E3, it’s a long time to make people wait for a triple A Nintendo title for their new system. It’s also true that Reggie was talking about the North American launch, but the line-up has been similar here too.

Worryingly, the key title that is being talked about on Nintendo UK’s site at the moment is Steel Diver, the submarine game that got average reviews from most outlets in the US. It’s hardly a blockbuster game and in fact I would label it as quite a niche title. That’s coming out in May here and if it’s being pushed this much then you would have to depressingly assume that there’s nothing else in the pipeline until at least the end of may or early June. Luckily I have Pilotwings to keep me busy, and I plan to rent SSFIV soon, but some gamers, such as my brother, have only the system itself and no games. They can’t even use the web browser as it comes in a later system update. I suppose they have FaceRaiders and AR games, but despite being pretty fun and quirky, don’t have the legs to be more than a party piece to wow friends and family.

Now that I’ve gone over the three main issues with the system, I want to go into the actual aesthetics of the 3DS itself. The system looks quite nice, thinner than I thought as it looks very bulky in pictures, and the 3 tier colour scheme only adds to that effect. I would have preferred a white one but cosmos black is still nice. The blue one is very nice looking when you see it for yourself. The top seems to shift colour depending on the light and angle.

The slide pad is very nice to hold and responsive. The D-Pad can be a bit uncomfortable to use now that it’s down below where it used to be, but if you shift your hand position it becomes manageable. The face buttons and the L + R shoulder buttons are much the same as you’re used to on all the DS models. The power button is bigger and more pronounced than the XL which I like as it’s far easier to press. However, I really don’t like the select, start and home buttons as they feel cheap and hard to press. It looks flimsy and prone to wearing away over time. I hope that doesn’t occur.

The stylus is also modified. It now slots in the back of the system and is telescopic. When full length it doesn’t seem to be much bigger than the original ones were though. There’s also no way to lock it at full length which feels like a poor decision. The tip is now smoother where the DS ones all had a pronounced tip to them but there’s no real difference in feel.

As far as the interface and built in software side of things, I think it’s a fair step up from the DS. At first, the main menu looks almost identical to the DSi but you can modify the number of icons on screen at once. I prefer columns of 3 personally. The top of the touch screen has a variety of icons, the most interesting of which is the friends icon. You have one friend code now and it’s universal for all games. This is great as you can now register someone without inputting the code, by being in the same room as them. You receive their mii and can then see them online and invite them to games. It’s a pretty cool system, and it’s one of the most exciting upgrades Nintendo have made that will drastically improve the online experience. Hopefully gone are the days of playing Mario Kart with more than just your one friend by counting down and then both joining a continental or worldwide game at the same time and hoping for the best.

The built in games are actually quite impressive. As I’ve already mentioned, FaceRaiders and AR games are party pieces for the most part, but are still worth a try. FaceRaiders is the pick of them as it really does interesting things with face manipulation and the gyro of the system. My cousin very much enjoyed shooting me and her mum in the face while we made all sorts of strange expressions on screen thanks to the impressive face recognition. You do have to line up where the facial features are, but even so it’s cool to see.

AR games is impressive but it’s also far more buggy. The cameras are very slow, just like the DSi ones were. It’s like Nintendo have a lifetime supply of VGA cameras that they can’t bear to part with. This hurts the Augmented reality effect, especially in 3D. It’s disappointing that you can lose track of the AR card easily and then have to find it again. The actual game itself though is impressive, especially if you’ve never really seen AR before. Realising you actually have to move your whole body around the card in order to dodge a dragon or hit a target you couldn’t see from other angles is definitely an impressive experience. If the cameras were more responsive then it would be an experience that I’d come back to it more often than my once and only time so far.

I think it will have a very tough task to catch the DS in terms of sales I still think it will be very successful. The DS was practically the perfect device for casual gaming and Nintendo took full advantage of that with Brain Training and various other casual titles. Because of the high price and 3D effect, I don’t think it will ever be as popular with older and more casual players but I may be proved wrong.

It’s been a brave decision to go for 3D the way they have. Especially making the entire marketing push about that one feature. With that said, they’re arguably in the best position of any company out there to try such a bold move. You have to give them massive credit for taking such a risk when they could have easily played it safe with a DS2 with just primarily graphical and other technical improvements. The issue there is that they could still have been in a position to not appeal to casual gamers as much as its predecessor as those people will just say “I don’t need better graphics”.

Overall, I think despite its drawbacks and early lack of real must-have titles, the system has a strong future ahead of it and bags of potential. It’s practically impossible for it not to considering how well Nintendo has understood and dominated handheld gaming for so many years.

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I only bought one game at launch and it’s Pilotwings. I’ve swayed back and forward in my mind over how strong a game I think this is. I expected the game to be a kind of fun and relaxing diversion from other games with a fairly casual difficulty level. I was surprised when I found that the game was far harder than I had anticipated. In a way this is a good thing as it forces you to practice and doesn’t allow you to blow through the missions with perfect scores in a day of play.

I found myself stuck on the silver level of missions for a long time and didn’t think I would be able to progress to gold. I decided to give up on mission mode for a while and try to complete free flight mode. This mode is a very relaxing experience in which you have a set time per run to explore the islands in your selected vehicle. The object is to discover and collect locations of places of interest as well as white balloons which are scattered around the island, both of which you have to fly into to add to your collection. Once you find a location it is added to a list. Each balloon starts out white and turns coloured once you fly into it. Greyed out white balloons mean that they can only be collected by a different vehicle. Locations can be found regardless of vehicle. For every 10 or so balloons you collect, you earn another 30 seconds of flight time. This is useful for letting you reach the objectives that are a long way from the main island, such as on the golf resort island.

I actually ended up completing both of these objectives which was a very satisfying feeling. After that, I tried the same missions I had been struggling on earlier and actually found that I was getting noticeably better each time even if I wasn’t getting great scores. Eventually I did enough to unlock the gold class which also unlocks a new category in the free flight mode. One new objective for each class of aircraft. Stunt rings for planes, mii trophies for rocket belts and gold rings for gliders.

Stunt rings are definitely the most tricky of the 3 types as you have to manoeuvre your plane in ways you haven’t been forced to up until this point in the game. Each stunt ring has your mii’s face in a certain position, indicating how your plane should be angled while moving through it. They may be rotating left or right, on their side either way, or most difficult of all, upside down. I’ve found that the easiest way to get the upside down targets is by holding L + R at the same time and then trying to glide into the target that way. The other stunts also use combinations of these buttons. To bank, hold down one of them, to barrel roll, double tap one. You have to be aware of the angle you’re approaching from too, as when you bank or roll you will move in that direction quite strongly.

Instead of going further into detail regarding every other minute aspect of the game, I’ll summarise my experience so far with the game. The gameplay of all of the aircraft is fantastic fun and very addictive, which makes the quest for all of the objectives in free flight mode such an addictive and engrossing experience. The mission mode, while it does get very tricky after the first couple of sets of missions, it is also rewarding. While you’ll probably never get a perfect score on most of the later levels due to the sheer number of parameters the game scores you on, it’s still great fun to try.

It has been criticised by some as being too short but I think the people saying that are those whole are only really interested in the mission mode. It’s true that they could have done more with that part of the game, but counting that and the hours you could spend in free flight mode, I think you definitely get enough hours of play out of it to make it worth purchasing. Even if you don’t want to purchase it, rent it as its gameplay and 3D effect are good adverts for the system in themselves.

Speaking of the 3D, my eyes weren’t comfortable with it on maximum but at mid level 3D you do get a fairly good sense of depth that shouldn’t hurt your eyes in moderation. I just turned the slider to off when I was sick of the 3D but not sick of the game. It’s nice to have the option to do that at least.

When the launch of the system was fast approaching, I was almost resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t have a game for it for several months at least, as there wasn’t really anything else of interest, or at least not worth buying rather than renting, but Pilotwings Resort is definitely the kind of game that will keep me coming back until the library does get up to Nintendo’s excellent standard. I’m definitely glad I took the chance on it now. I’m also glad I got it for £10 cheaper at amazon than the selling price at the GAME store. Don’t support game’s money grabbing ways if you can find it cheaper elsewhere.

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The 3DS was shown off at a special event held by Nintendo Europe in Amsterdam today, with Jonathan Ross hosting. Essentially they didn’t talk about anything very exciting during the majority of the show. Some 3D content providers and wi-fi hotspot partners were talked about and a rather large selection of games shown.

Most of the developers who came out on stage were train wrecks and would have been better off staying back home in Japan, seeing as most of them were from there.

The launch date of the system is the 25th of Mark in Europe which is a week earlier than the US launch. What they didn’t mention during the event is the price, which now that I know what it will be, am not surprised they didn’t mention. I didn’t think they would go above the £179.99 launch price of the Wii, especially because the US price of the 3DS, also announced today was for $250, which happens to be the Wii launch price in that country. Contrary to seemingly strong logic, it appears that the price will be somewhere between £220 and £230, which to me is a joke. Yes, VAT was increased, and yes, we always get ripped off anyway so we should be used to it by now. It just feels like the ripping off is getting worse and worse with each now generation of system. I don’t know what the reason is, I would very much appreciate someone to help me understand this.

While the selection of games on offer does interest me, especially Mario Kart and Animal Crossing, I just don’t know if I can pay this much money for the system at this time. The issue is that I want to play those games so much based on being addicted to the DS and console versions of them in the past, and I do always buy new Nintendo systems and games. I know that the price is unlikely to lower for at least a year after launch and I don’t think I’ll be able to resist that long either. It’s frustrating to know that even if I hold out for a few months it’s unlikely to save me any money at all.

I also am not a fan of the colours they selected. I just want a white version, but all they have is aqua blue and black. It’s more disappointing to know that they’ll probably release a lite version for half the price in black and white in a year or so.

Overall, a very disappointing announcement, even if Jonathan Ross was typically tricky to handle for the Nintendo Europe executives at times, which was entertaining to see. And to think, they had actually convinced me to pre-order one until I heard the price later on in the day.

If I’m honest, I don’t want to be writing this kind of post every single time Nintendo or Sony announces a new system. I just want to be able to talk about cool something is, and once again, they’ve overshadowed that possibility.

That’s not to say the DS is a bad system. Good games are what really counts over graphics and such. However, that doesn’t make it ok to not push the envelope as far as online functionality, graphics and storage space are concerned. Graphics probably won’t be an issue at all, especially with 3D the main focus of the system, but even so, the online features have to be so much better than the Wii to win me over, and the same goes for storage. To give around a gigabyte in today’s market when you can get a 32gb iPod Touch just doesn’t really cut it considering how the industry is moving more and more towards digital downloads as an alternative to physical media.

I don’t mean to sound like I’m slating a system I’ve never played and that isn’t released yet, but I just really want to be blown away by it and I have my reservations. I hope they prove me wrong and address all of my concerns before the 3DS comes out.

Speaking of the release date, it was announced last week that the system will be in stores in Japan on February 26th and in Europe sometime in March. The Japanse price will be 25000 yen (about $300) but I would be surprised if they released it for $50 more than the original cost of the Wii in the US. I think it would be risky enough to launch at the same price as there is likely to be a feeling that handhelds should always cost less than their console counterparts, even if they are more technologically advanced.

My guess is that the system will launch at the same price point as the Wii did in both the US and here in the UK at $250 and £190 respectively. It’s still a lot to ask, but since they’re focusing on the hardcore audience at launch, I’m sure they won’t have too much trouble in convincing fans to part with their cash.

Also of note is that the system comes with a 2gb SD card rather than built in storage. In a way this may be a smarter option, as SD cards are cheap and high capacity and therefore may be perfect for storing games and data on. It’s also good because it makes the system more modular. Casual players will never know that the SD card is even removable, while hardcore users who download a lot of games and who require far more space have the ability to upgrade easily.

The confirmation of multi-tasking is also good to hear. What I’d love to have confirmed next would ideally be a new Nintendo Wi-Fi username based service akin to the other two main gaming hardware company’s networks.

Then again, even if the hardware turns out to not be as great as we are all hoping it will be, when Mario Kart comes out, I’ll end up buying it regardless. That’s the power Nintendo has over me and many other gamers and it’s why they’re still not particularly worried about Apple’s rapidly growing gaming business.

Last years Nintendo conference was actually very strong for the hardcore crowd, following the disaster of the year before, but they went even further this year to entertain the core gamers who generally attend E3. There were some casual titles this year but they kept coverage of them to a minimum which I thought was a smart move.

Microsoft’s conference was in my opinion the weakest of the 3 main companies. While Nintendo have seemingly learned from the past and decided to focus less on casual games and more on the traditional market and Sony have included a good mix of both, Microsoft have gone in the opposite direction which I think is a bad move. Kinect is the new name for Natal. It’s not a terrible name but I’m sceptical of how well it will work for more in-depth types of games. Can the controller free concept deliver on its promise?

I’m also not a fan of the voice control aspect of the device either. Voice control is hardly new and Sony could probably do it with their eye camera if they wanted to, but so far they haven’t shown anything like that. I just think that talking to a machine is always going to make you look silly and feel awkward.

The most important aspect of this whole thing is that even if the device is great and has good support software wise, will the price be low enough to sell units and more importantly get casual players on board. It will likely cost around £100 when combined with £200 for the system itself. £300 seems a bit steep for a casual gaming family. The Wii is considerably cheaper and while it doesn’t offer the same level of technical power and also requires multiple expensive controllers and add-ons to use multiplayer, the initial outlay will put quite a lot of people off I imagine.

Then there’s the problem of Xbox 360 just not being a very appealing name for anyone other than core gamers. They will have to work very hard with casual game advertising in order to really sell this to the wide audience that Nintendo currently enjoys.

Sony I think had just the right mix of traditional hardcore games like Killzone 3 and Infamous 2 along with Twisted Metal, innovative titles like LittleBigPlanet 2 and their foray into full motion gaming with Move. SIXAXIS was their first, unsuccessful attempt but I think they have the right formula this time around. Move is the perfect motion controller, or at least so far. You combine the accuracy of camera tracking with the buttons and accelerometers of the Wii Remote.

Move seems like the perfect fit for sports games such as Tiger Woods and Grand Slam Tennis, both of which I’m very much looking forward to. It’s far from limited to that one category though. Unlike Kinect, which I feel at this point is somewhat limited in what types of games it can be used in, I think Move has much more potential to fit into many different types of games seamlessly.

I think there are two barriers for the Move to overcome. The first is the cost of buying multiple controllers for friends and family groups, but Nintendo haven’t been set back by this problem so far so I don’t see Sony struggling too badly. Of course, Nintendo supply the Wii Remote as their default controller so that does help them but even so. The other issue could be the complexity of the setup. You need the eye camera somewhere in front of your TV as well as the controllers and possibly a subcontroller (nunchuk or duelshock 3) which is similar to the sensor bar but it could get confusing for some.

Moving away from the motion control aspect, I felt the rest of the press conference from Sony was strong. While there weren’t really any surprises, and Playstation Plus doesn’t really offer much that I would be interested in, I think they showed good demos of great upcoming games, and we now have a release date for Gran Turismo 5 which is very exciting for me.

To point out two negative sections of the show, I would say that firstly Sony put too much emphasis on 3D. The technology is still in its infancy and the TVs and glasses are very expensive. Hardly anyone will actually be buying it and I think they should be keeping it low key for the first 6 months to a year of availability because they’re spending considerable amounts of time talking to only a very small percentage of their customers at this time. At the moment Nintendo are the pioneers of 3D because they’re making it available to everyone for presumably a reasonable price.

They also introduced a new PSP advertising campaign. However, they didn’t lower the price and while they did show God Of War: Ghost of Sparta and announced Patapon 3, they only showed it briefly in a video of upcoming games. To me they are sending mixed messages. On one hand, they want us to consider the PSP still alive and kicking, but at the same time, with no price cut and hardly any talk of new games, you wonder if they even believe it themselves.

I think the lack of a PSP2 could hurt Sony badly in their battle with Nintendo and Apple for the next generation of handheld gaming. Nintendo have already stated that they will release the 3DS before the end of March next year. Will Sony have even announced PSP2 by then? If not then it will be likely at least 6 months or maybe even more between the launches of the two systems, and I don’t think they can afford to give Nintendo a head start. Especially because of all the hype and positive press that the 3DS has had surrounding it at E3 and beyond.

E3 was a massive show with so many games announced and shown off. I can’t really go into everything in this post, but overall I think this E3 was a great show with a lot of interesting announcements. 3DS was the big winner and Sony did a solid job. I think Microsoft have something to prove now especially with their motion control. They did announce the slim system with wi-fi but that’s only good to a point. It should have been done years ago.

I’ll have more thoughts soon, and will be back to more regular posts on F1 and all other topics. Thanks for reading.

The first was the 3DS, the supposed successor to the DS family of handhelds which will apparently hit stores in Japan around this time next year. I’ll have more on that soon. There’s too much to go into here.

The second was the confirmation of LittleBigPlanet 2 by Sony, who recently wisely bought Media Molecule. All of these are obvious sequels. Perhaps the companies behind them felt they were so obvious that it wouldn’t be worth trying to hide them back until a big game show like E3 because by then the secrets will probably have been exposed anyway.

Regardless of how they got announced, I’m excited for at least 3 of these 4 offerings, and that’s not to say KZ3 will be bad, I’ just can’t see myself playing it.

A couple of names have been rumoured for the final product since then. Those were Arc and Gem. In the end Sony decided on a simple name that clearly described the purpose of the device.

One of my initial concerns about the move was that they never showed a supplementary device to hold in the other hand with an analogue stick, as Nintendo have with the nunchuk. I feel as if motion control, to be used in a more hardcore way and to provide the best experience, you need to have elements of classic control as part of the overall setup. Sony now have announced their take on the nunchuk formula in the shape of the subcontroller which boasts and analogue stick, a couple of face buttons and possibly a trigger on the back as well as being wireless.

While many will simply say that Sony have stooped to simply copying Nintendo, my view is that a device like this is practically a must have for many types of games. For example, I was a big fan of Grand Slam Tennis on Wii which used a motion-plus remote and nunchuk combo for the optimum control. Having precise analogue stick control of your character makes it easier to focus on your shots and not where your character is standing. My hope is that now EA Sports will be able to simply translate across the same control scheme essentially, but the Move will allow greater accuracy and a more fun tennis experience, while also providing HD graphics and probably better online play. For this type of game, it really removes any chance of me buying the Wii version.

I also loved Tiger Woods 10 on Wii last year. It made great use of motion-plus as well and didn’t use the nunchuk which allowed complete freedom of movement. I expect the PS3 version, which has already been confirmed to support the Move when it is released, to take all the great elements of the Wii version and multiply them.

Of course, not all games are suited to motion control and it’s really personal preference as to whether or not you feel you would rather use classic or motion for different genres. I personally prefer classic control on a lot of my Wii games when given the choice. Mario Kart, F1 and more are much more fun with the more precise duel analogue setup of the classic controller. On the other hand, I can’t imagine playing Excite Truck, Wii Sport and Wii Sports Resort, Boom Blox (and bash party) and others any other way.

Gamers shouldn’t feel threatened by motion control because I’m confident that they won’t become the norm. They will be great in some ways, limiting in others but I think there will be a choice for gamers as to how they play.