Cnet: How M$ stole the show at E3

[FearNo1]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10256539-17.html?tag=newsLatestHeadlinesArea.0

CNET conducted a poll earlier this week asking readers which company--Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony--had the most impressive announcements at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo.

More than 10,000 people responded. More than 51.9 percent of the respondents said Microsoft bested its competitors. Thirty-four percent of those who answered the poll said Sony had the best announcements. Nintendo finished last, with just 5.6 percent of respondents saying it had the best E3. Ironically, the fourth option--"None of them--they were all yawners"--beat out Nintendo, with 8.4 percent of the vote.

It's a well-deserved victory for Microsoft. At this year's event, the company announced a new, expanded Xbox Live offering for the console, including a new video store with 1080p content. The Xbox 360 will also sport Facebook and Twitter integration.

Those announcements, however, paled in comparison to what came next. Microsoft will be offering full-game downloads on Xbox Live. On top of that, Halo:ODST, Left4Dead 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Forza Motorsport 3 will all be exclusive on the console. And in what may have shaken Sony's world more than any other announcement, Hideo Kojima took the stage, announcing that he is bringing his wildly popular Metal Gear Solid series to the Xbox 360 with Metal Gear Solid Rising.

All that's great. But Microsoft's biggest announcement was Project Natal. Taking Nintendo's motion control to a whole new level, Project Natal allows you to control on-screen action without a controller. It senses motion, sound, and 3D movement. Want to throw a pitch? Move your arm like a pitcher, and the game will throw the ball. Want to kick a soccer ball? Swing your foot forward, and the Xbox 360 will take care of the rest. It's like the Wiimote, but without the controller--and cooler.

You're probably wondering what Sony and Nintendo had to say at E3. Sony unveiled the PSP Go, a roster of exclusives, including Gran Turismo 5 and God of War 3, and a new motion controller that uses Sony's Eye technology to provide in-game motion control. It's cool, but it's no Project Natal.

Nintendo had a tough year at E3. It announced a new Super Mario Bros. title for the Wii. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is also coming to its console. But that's about it. Oh, and a pulse reader called the Wii Vitality Sensor. Yeah, I don't get it, either.

As you can see, it wasn't much of a competition for the Xbox 360. Sony's big announcement was motion control. And Nintendo is still staying true to Mario. In the meantime, Microsoft is pushing the envelope and taking its business to the next level.

I think it's time that we commend Microsoft for its gaming efforts. Nintendo played it safe, with a few minor announcements, hoping that they would be enough to stay in the lead. Sony continued its utter disregard for reality (can we please get a PS3 price drop?). But Microsoft took a step back, evaluated the market, and announced plans that could transform the industry.

Game downloads are the future. Exclusives help sell game consoles. And taking motion control to the next level is the right move for Microsoft.

You can say what you want about Microsoft and its Xbox 360. But at this year's E3, it made the competition look foolish. And in the cutthroat business of video games, that's a major victory in and of itself.

Wake up, Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft has.

[Taustin Powers]

Wow, that article was not biased at all. :rolleyes:

Let's see, what do we have here:

Sony and Microsoft both did camera-aided motion sensing, and Sony's seemed to be more 1:1 accurate realtime tracking. (Also, it was a real live demo!) M$'s seemed a little more innovative, I'll give them that. How useful (or limited) Natal will be for actual games remains to be seen.

Microsoft won because full game downloads are the future? Oh yes, what pioneers they are.... (Warhawk? Burnout Paradise? Hello?)

Exclusive titles, Sony had just as many as Microsoft. I would even say more interesting ones, but that's a matter of taste.

I guess Microsoft wins for people who need 1080p movies, Facebook and Twitter. But as far as gaming goes, it's a tie at best. To me, Sony had the stronger game line-up (and fancy new hardware!), but again, that's personal taste.

How CNET comes to this landslide victory conclusion is a mystery to me.

[MacRumorUser]

Wow, that article was not biased at all. :rolleyes:


Well the poll can't be biased ;) Even if the journalistic rhetoric is.

Anyway even if you take the 51% of those polled, thought M$ had the better show.
Does that mean Sony had a bad show ? Does that mean Nintendo suck ?

No it's just a general feeling of those on the ground (of those polled).

HOWEVER! The chances are that nearly all those polled would probably say they enjoyed all the shows if that option was open to them, but it obviously was not.

It doesn't really mean anything at the end of the day so really there's no point getting knickers in a twist.

[Taustin Powers]

Well the poll can't be biased ;) Even if the journalistic rhetoric is.

Anyway even if you take the 51% of those polled, thought M$ had the better show.
Does that mean Sony had a bad show ? Does that mean Nintendo suck ?

No it's just a general feeling of those on the ground (of those polled).

HOWEVER! The chances are that nearly all those polled would probably say they enjoyed all the shows if that option was open to them, but it obviously was not.

It doesn't really mean anything at the end of the day so really there's no point getting knickers in a twist.

I'm not complaining about the poll, solely about the journalistic qualities of the written article. :)

[zap2]

I really don't see it...everyone's show was good,although nothing earth shattering(which is fine, we can't reinvent the wheel each year)

Everyone seemed to bring some great games to the table, admittedly PSPGo! could have one upped everyone, but I don't think it was a run away hit, so impressed pretty happy around. Other then the DSi...no much great from Nintendo there

[2nyRiggz]

I'm going to be real with yall(flame all you want) I wouldn't be surprised MS would gather 50+ of the votes because thats the margin of X360s to PS3 in NA so its not a surprise.

IMO Sony showed more games and thats what I wanted.



Bless

[ezekielrage_99]

As much as I am not a fan of M$ their presentation was far better on what they will offer compared to Sony and Nintendo.

The new games and features IMHO add more to the gaming and XBOX feature line up than what Sony or Nintendo could offer.

Facebook on an XBOX although I initially thought it was kind of silly after looking at it in action on the M$ XBOX 360 web site I do have to say it's a very nice feature. Coupled with the online videos, buying games online and some nice (but expected) games. I really think this will impact Sony more than Nintendo, Sony seriously needs to drop the price of the PS3 and start adding a better line up on it's PSN.

Overall I think all of the shows were pretty good, but the M$ one I feel added a little more than the other thus why it was more popular on the poll.

[Phat_Pat]

am i the only one who thinks motion sensors is a cheap gimmick? much like all these new 3D movies... :mad:

[e²Studios]

I'm going to be real with yall(flame all you want) I wouldn't be surprised MS would gather 50+ of the votes because thats the margin of X360s to PS3 in NA so its not a surprise.

IMO Sony showed more games and thats what I wanted.



Bless

Plus in all reality all the MS motion control did was show its flaws. It has an absurd amount of lag time, its not accurate, and its basically useless for most games. Sony's on the other hand is very accurate, accurate to the milimeter (more so than anything on the market now), and could be used in a variety of games just for the accuracy alone.

Sony had more 1st party games that made me go wow, MS relied heavily on 3rd party to give a wow (if you can call it a wow, most all their games were meh). Forza was blow away by GT5 before the convention was even over. Then again Forza is just "pimp my ride", more arcade than a real simulator, just the way the average xbot likes it.

[dukebound85]

gt 5 has me stoked!!!!

when is this released?

[sikkinixx]

The impressions from closed door trials with "natal" are almost universally positive. The fact they have integrated it with Burnout already is promising for actually GAME usage.


But yeah... the article is kind of slanted. Sony announced a bunch of awesome stuff (Uncharted 2 = Game of the Show) and Nintendo did its fans good with TWO Mario games and a new Metroid.

[Ov3rlord Falc0r]

The impressions from closed door trials with "natal" are almost universally positive. The fact they have integrated it with Burnout already is promising for actually GAME usage.


But yeah... the article is kind of slanted. Sony announced a bunch of awesome stuff (Uncharted 2 = Game of the Show) and Nintendo did its fans good with TWO Mario games and a new Metroid.

Ya but the closed door trials are just that, closed door. Who knows what all is said and told behind them. Ya everyone says good things about it, but is it really that good? I'm not trying to discredit "natal" at all. I just think that everyone should wait and base their opinion when more people can actually use it and get a feel for it with a significant amount of time.

[Dagless]

I wasn't keen on Microsofts. Rather than showing interesting games and technology (that wasn't CG) they just had celebrities and BIG LOUD SHOWBOATING STUFF. Nothing exclusive I saw during the MS show had me excited, L4D2 I'll be getting for PC, after all.

Nintendo's had the most games I was interested in but at the same time, to quote Alan Partridge, they couldn't present a... a cat.

Sony's had it IMO. New hardware, GT5, PSP games galore and a lot of folk seem to like that GoW3. It was purely about games and was well presented. How E3 should be.

[jaw04005]

Wow, that article was not biased at all. :rolleyes:

It's not an article. It's a column. There's a difference.

[sikkinixx]

I wasn't keen on Microsofts. Rather than showing interesting games and technology (that wasn't CG) they just had celebrities and BIG LOUD SHOWBOATING STUFF. Nothing exclusive I saw during the MS show had me excited, L4D2 I'll be getting for PC, after all.

Nintendo's had the most games I was interested in but at the same time, to quote Alan Partridge, they couldn't present a... a cat.

Sony's had it IMO. New hardware, GT5, PSP games galore and a lot of folk seem to like that GoW3. It was purely about games and was well presented. How E3 should be.

Speaking of PSP, look at the upcoming release list (as in the next year)

Persona
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Resident Evil PSP
Lunar Harmony of Silver Star
Jak and Daxter
Assasins Creed Bloodlines
Dissidia : Final Fantasy
Silent Hill Shattered Memories
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
Tekken 6
Tales of Versus
Soul Calibur
Gran Turismo
Motorstorm
Fat Princess

Wowza. And word is Soul Calibur looks as good as SC4. And SO FAR, Sorny is being good on their "we want more PSone games on PSN" as FFVII came out this week, and MGS is out next week.

[2nyRiggz]

Glad its not just me that notice Sony showed more & interesting exclusive GAMES at their presentation that will not be on other platforms.....thats clearly a winner in my books.

The Natal project has a lot of journalist jaded right now but I'm not convinced at all. I really hope the motion sensing thing stays optional because if MS version is the future(I mean without a controller) then I'm going to have to pick up a new hobby.


Bless

[sikkinixx]

Glad its not just me that notice Sony showed more & interesting exclusive GAMES at their presentation that will not be on other platforms.....thats clearly a winner in my books.

The Natal project has a lot of journalist jaded right now but I'm not convinced at all. I really hope the motion sensing thing stays optional because if MS version is the future(I mean without a controller) then I'm going to have to pick up a new hobby.


Bless

Cynic :p:D

[2nyRiggz]

Cynic :p:D

I'm sounding like one of those old guys chewing tobacco sitting on my porch with a gun shouting "young punks, get of my lawn" **waving fist**

Guess I'm not ready for the change in gaming:(



Bless

[stainlessliquid]

So basically at CNET E3 is about console features, not games since they obviously dont play them. And ya Im sure Sony went into a panic when they announced that a series with a history of going multiplatform ended up going multiplatform, that was definitelythe biggest shock of E3, nobody expected that.

Sony won for me because of The Last Guardian, which destroyed everything else there. I would rate Alan Wake as 2nd but its a distant 2nd, really distant.

[whooleytoo]

Cynic :p:D

It's. Microsoft.

I can hardly say that word out loud, without following it by "FUD". :p

Sad day if a vague 'proof of concept' video is the highlight of E3.

[Dagless]

And ya Im sure Sony went into a panic when they announced that a series with a history of going multiplatform ended up going multiplatform, that was definitelythe biggest shock of E3, nobody expected that.

You talking about Metal Gear there? Because its been out on the NES, MSX, GBC, PC, Gamecube, Xbox, PS1, PS2 and PSP. And more recently a minigame on the iPod.

[macfan881]

heres the thing MS Focuses to much on halo and GOW that its sad that there really any other Stellar Games from MS that is why i love the ps3 there are more big first party games from sony than ms and lets be all honest if Halo 2 wasnt such a huge sucsses we probably wouldn't even have a 360 the only thing im a fan of really is how ms is with there main os i agree theyre better than the xmb at the moment. this is coming from a sony user since ps one

[zap2]

heres the thing MS Focuses to much on halo and GOW that its sad that there really any other Stellar Games from MS

Did MS even talk about GeOW this E3?


lets be all honest if Halo 2 wasnt such a huge sucsses we probably wouldn't even have a 360

Do you have some links to back that up? The 360 launch about a year after Halo 2. Wikpedia says 360 development started in 2003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Development

[racers]

"Did MS even talk about GeOW this E3?"

Nope

[stainlessliquid]

You talking about Metal Gear there? Because its been out on the NES, MSX, GBC, PC, Gamecube, Xbox, PS1, PS2 and PSP. And more recently a minigame on the iPod.

yes... its sarcasm

[Shivetya]

Glad its not just me that notice Sony showed more & interesting exclusive GAMES at their presentation that will not be on other platforms.....thats clearly a winner in my books.

The Natal project has a lot of journalist jaded right now but I'm not convinced at all. I really hope the motion sensing thing stays optional because if MS version is the future(I mean without a controller) then I'm going to have to pick up a new hobby.


Bless

It stomps the multi touch crap that came before it. It should not be hard to incorporate anywhere within a few years. There is no reason it cannot be applied to home computers/laptops or even your phone.

If anything it will make Minority Report type functionality readily available.

[Tsubame]

I care as much about Project Natal (and I don't believe a thing Peter Molyneux says anymore, so I will believe that technology when I see actual users trying it out) as I do about Nintendo's Pulse Monitor or Sony's mo-capping. That is to say, not at all.

Of those three, the only one I can see being used for gaming is Sony's, and even then I think it's of limited efficacy. Natal may be nice for educational software (great, in fact) but not for gaming.

I care about one thing at E3, the games. Sony had the best showing for games, therefore Sony impressed me the most. Microsoft's highlight for games was the Metal Gear Solid game that is multiplatform anyway. I'm sorry, when your highlight for TWO E3s in a row is that you are ALSO getting a game your competitor is? I just don't care. Showing Rock Band Beatles and Metal Gear Solid: Rising on stage as your highlights, when they are games that are on other platforms as well, is lame.

Nintendo had Metroid, but not much else (Though that does look awesome).

Sony had ModNation, God of War 3 (Disappointed me, but still looks good, not great), Uncharted 2 (Best looking game I've ever seen, easy), FFXIV (arguable, since it's on PC too, but so were all MS's exclusives, so I'll list it here), APB, MAG, and a few others.

Microsoft showed cool technology, yes, but motion-capture is NOT the future of video games. I don't want to steer a car by moving my hands in the air like a ninny, I want an actual physical wheel-controller. I'm not going to navigate RPG menus by pushing at virtual menus in the air, I want an actual controller. The only uses i see for motion-capture stuff (this goes for Sony and Nintendo too) are sports games really, and educational software. If motion-capture becomes a standard for video game interfaces, I'm probably just going to stop gaming, because it isn't fun. (I have a Wii, it has it's niche games, but the best games I have played on it used the motion-capture barely at all, like Paper Mario or Mario Galaxy).

E3 is about the games, and Sony is the only one that really impressed me there.

EDIT: Doh, I forgot The Last Guardian, one of the most impressive games of E3, oops :P.

[Dagless]

Nintendo had Metroid, but not much else (Though that does look awesome).

You forgot Galaxy 2, New Mario, Golden Sun 3, new Zelda in development.

[Tsubame]

I was just talking about keynotes, which Zelda isn't mentioned in, yeah it was good. New Galaxy is okay, but I have the same eh with God of War 3 (aka, looks good, but nothing new/great). But yes, Nintendo had a few other things worthy of note, but I still feel that Sony delivered the most in the game category.

Microsoft had a couple other things too, like Alan Wake.

[evan g]

I was just talking about keynotes, which Zelda isn't mentioned in, yeah it was good. New Galaxy is okay, but I have the same eh with God of War 3 (aka, looks good, but nothing new/great). But yes, Nintendo had a few other things worthy of note, but I still feel that Sony delivered the most in the game category.

Microsoft had a couple other things too, like Alan Wake.

Alan Wake DOES look good!

For me Sony did very well. I mean facebook and twitter on the xbox? I think everyone forgot that the PS3 can do those and even more social networking sites via the internet browser.

It's a shame the PSPgo was leaked, but stuff happens. As for games, everything was awesome! I did scoff at FFXIV (you still gotta release 13, silly!) but not for long.

[Dagless]

Well then technically the Wii, DSi and PSP can also do Twitter and Facebook. But its the integration that will change it. Hopefully its done well since I use both a 360 and Facebook... The only problem is not being able to use both at the same time.
I jest. I'm not one of them Facebook users.