E3 2005
Right, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last week, you’ll know by now that E3 is in full swing, so here’s my thoughts on the big 3’s consoles:
Microsoft’s Xbox 360: Looks impressive, and games running at full power look fucking fantastic. Xbox Live straight out of the box plus 20 GB hard drive as standard is what I was hoping for. However, their presentation at E3 is somewhat lacking. Apparently a lot of the games were only running on a third of the 360’s actual power (Alpha kits). Also, there seems to be some confusion on how it will be backwards compatible and Microsoft is being vague as hell about it. Some suggestions have been that it will only be certain Xbox titles, and that you might have to buy recompiled versions of them. Like I said Microsoft is being vague as hell about it. Still, if the 360 is like the current Xbox, but more powerful I’ll probably buy it (as long as it is under £200 at launch, anything else and they can piss off). Also, Gears of Wars made me shit myself.
Edit: According to Xbox Live’s Major Nelson all Xbox games will work on the 360, so yay.
Sony’s PS3: Ok, the console is ugly, there I said it. It looks horrible. Especially the pad, it just does not look comfortable to hold at all. The PS3 looks more powerful than the 360 on paper. But it how you use that power with the games in the end. Initially the “KillZone 2” trailer floored me, but it turns out that there was ZERO in-game footage on show for the PS3. It’s like the PS2’s launch all over again. The games line up just doesn’t impress me. Apart from said KillZone 2 demo, but then again KillZone 1 looked impressive at first but was distinctly average, and again, that was video-footage, not in-game graphics. We’ll see how it goes, and if there are more games that I would want to play on it, I’ll buy one, but apparently the launch price will be upwards of £400. If that is true, fuck you Sony.
Nintendo’s Revolution: Ok, the Revolution will have to be truly revolutionary after this SHITE E3 showing. No details apart from what it will look like and what games will be on it. Mario, Metroid and Zelda, no shit Nintendo. It’s also nowhere near as powerful as the 360 or PS3. But then again it will be the games that make the Revolution. Apparently there is a lot of talk about it being truly “revolutionary”, but Nintendo is not going to reveal anything until the NEXT E3. This seems like a dumb move on their part as by that time the PS3 and 360 will be out and only the Nintendo faithful will wait for it. They’re going to have to pull one hell of a rabbit out of the hat to impress anyone.
Also, Nintendo really pissed me off by revealing THIS:
This is the GameBoy Micro, another cynical attempt from Nintendo to gain your cash. It’s exactly the same as the current GBA and SP, EXCEPT SMALLER! Jesus fucking Christ Nintendo, you did that once with the SP, which I think is almost perfect. Nobody is gonna buy your damn machine a third time! I can see the meeting going like this:
Nintendo Exec #1: We need to milk more money out of the GBA! And fast!
Exec #2: In know, instead of releasing new games for it, lets make it smaller, easier to break and design it to look like something you get in a box of Rice Krispies!
Exec #1: Brilliant! Let’s go rape some puppies to celebrate!