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At this year's E3 (Part 2)

Jul 12, 2007, 10:14 PM | by Wook Kim

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As I walked out of the beautiful Fairmont Miramir Hotel in sunny Santa Monica, I looked out at an orange sun hanging lazily over the dark blue expanse of the Pacific, and cursed myself for waiting until May to book a hotel, thereby ensuring I would not be staying at one of the lovely hotels that line Ocean Avenue. Thus, I now find myself ensconced 20 minutes away in Westwood, at the beautiful and lovely W. Where a major renovation is underway and calls made to the front desk about the sawing and hammering and drilling are answered by a patient and not wholly unsympathetic clerk who will explain that the work can not be halted and will, in fact, continue until the end of the day. And where the in-room Internet connnection ($15/day) can be spotty and very slooooooow. (Although, the problem just might be with the Web browser in the laptop I borrowed from work.) So tonight's E3 round-up will be brief, as I will soon down a beer and ponder these (embarassingly petty) inconveniences. In fact, I'm gonna keep my notes for a later date and get right to your questions and comments.

Let's get to it:

Console Shmonsole. E3 is all about the 3 major consoles that consumers complain about, yet still shell out major bucks for inept systems with limited games. Where are the PC games? I searched and searched only to find great games are not for the PC. When will the publishers learn that us PC gurus still exist and actually account for more games sales than console related games. Check these out and report back (if you can)... Bioshock - August, Timeshift - October, and Haze/UT 3 - November — PC_pawnage
An FPS fan, huh? Okay, I'll admit that some games do look better and run faster on top-line PCs, if you admit that keeping up with the latest graphics- and sound-cards can be an expensive proposition. I'm assuming that you're inquiring about the PC versions of the titles you mentioned, so here goes: I didn't get a chance to see TimeShift, and only saw 2K's BioShock — in stores Aug. 21 — running on the Xbox 360, but what I saw looked pretty darn good. There seem to be a lot of different ways to take out the bad guys, and the game seems to reward out-of-the-box thinking. HAZE and Unreal Tournament 3 I saw at the Sony briefing, both on the PS3. They both looked pretty great — UT3, running on the Unreal 3 engine: HAZE using something called 'Nectar' — but, frankly, it's hard to be critical when you're viewing a game on a 40-foot screen with the volume turned to '11'. Let me ask you a question: What's your take on Games for Windows Vista?

That JAmie Kennedy as fuanny as cancer once again. — mark in nyc
Trust me, even you would've felt sorry for Jamie Kennedy. The dude died up on stage.

I'd love to know about any upcoming DS and Wii releases (sooo excited about Super Smash Brothers!). And since most of the games I play are RPGs, info on upcoming titles, primarily, Japanese RPGs, for the DS, Wii, PS2 and the PS3. As a side note, I'm giddy about the upcoming Final Fantasy releases (granted I don't have a PS3 yet...but its going on my bridal registrty, thank god my future husband is also a gamer). Any street dates for the FF Tactics games or Dissidia(both DS and PSP-I'm buying a PSP just to get the FF Tactics port as its my favorite game of all time)? And on the PC front, any news on the upcoming Guild Wars releases would be appreciated? — Auriana
I know you like RPGs, 'cause I remember you asked about them last year. (Were you as disappointed as I was with FFIII for the DS? I did like FFIV, though.) You asked a lot of questions (too bad I'm not paid by the word), but I'm afraid they didn't give a whole lot of info on a lot of the titles you mentioned. I do know that Heroes of Mana and FFXII: Revenant Wings (both for the DS) should be in stores by August and November, respectively. And you should be happy to learn that Sony signed a deal with NCSoft, the publisher of Guild Wars — keep your fingers crossed, they said that some of their existing franchises may be available for the PS3 and PSP on the PLAYSTATION Network. And congrats on your upcoming wedding!

Wook, video games shmideo mames. The only reason people went to the E3 was for the porn conference that was always attached (come on, even hardcoare vidiots would rather take their photo with Jenna Jameson than with Hideo Kojima). Has that been cut loose with all the other goodies normally associated with E3? All said, it seems like the Wii's still reining solid over the PS3. Do the Sony controllers even vibrate yet? I love Sony's PS2 like a family member, but have been utterly unimpressed by the PS3's "suck you dry" price tag, it's lack of decent titles and the non vibrating controllers (which I'm not sure if they got vibrating yet or not). I've got faith Sony'll make things better, but for now, PS3 has "Sega Saturn" written all over it. — Ep Sato
Is it Mr. Sato? Or may I call you Ep? I think you're confusing conventions: the Adult Entertainement Expo — the "porn conference" you're talking about — was part of Consumer Electronic Show (or CES) held every January in Las Vegas. (I've been to a few of them — CES, I mean. And for the record, I've never gone to the porn show, which takes place in a different location. Seriously.) But props to you for dropping both a Jameson and Kojima reference in the same sentence. (I'd make a Metal Gear Solid joke, but this is supposed to be a family-friendly site.) Also, I hear what you're saying about the PS3, but the system is too good to write off so soon. I'm willing to give Sony another half-year to turn things around.

Hey now, hey now, let's not badmouth the Saturn. In Japan, it was a massive success, and there were several dozen outstanding games for it. Plus, if you waited until after the PS1 came out, you could get it really cheap. — Robert
You know what I really miss about the Saturn? The little LCD screen in the controllers. Why didn't this ever catch on? It would make perfect sense for sports titles where play selection and pitch location should be hidden from your opponent.

Oh, how I long for Tekken 6 . . . — Kathleen
Be strong, woman! Only a few more months...

Find out when the new Kingdom Hearts game is coming out. The first 2 were amazing! Also, are there any new fighting or comic book related games coming out for PS3 anytime soon(i.e. Dead or Alive, Mortal Combat) — Frances
It seems there will be an announcement regarding Kingdom Hearts in a few weeks, at the Tokyo Game Show. Right now, KH creator and director Tetsuya Nomura is busy at work on five — count 'em, five(!) — Final Fantasy projects, including Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 and Dissidia: Final Fantasy for the PSP. As for upcoming fighting games for the PS3, ask Kathleen (above)...

I don't know about you but doesn't it seem like the announcement of Mario Kart for Wii was a bit bigger than Wii Fit. It at least deserves to be mentioned under the Nintendo conference — Matthew
You're right, I should've mentioned Mario Kart Wii, due early 2008, and set to be packaged with a plastic steering-wheel housing, tentatively called the Wii Wheel. But, really, they made a much bigger deal out of Wii Fit.

Ellipsian Mon, Jul 16, 2007 at 07:17 PM EST

Interesting, Anonymous: so "it's too early in the Wii's lifespan to judge it", but "Sony unfortunately really has shot themselves in the foot this time around". Not to early to judge Sony, eh? Hmmm...methinks a Nintendo fanboy doth crashed the Comments, no?
I appreciate your (mostly) well thought out insight and all, but let's not count Sony or Nintendo out yet...nor give them buckets o' credit. There's too much talent and history (not to mention the all important $$$$) existing in both companies to definitively count either out so prematurely.
For the record, the Wii and its controls was a gamble of genious. But neither the world--nor Sony--have yet caught up to the promise of the PS3. And I--admittedly weirdly--liken the PS3 to a bear come springtime (albeit a super sophisticated bear with a built-in Blu-Ray player): it may be sleepy and hibernating-like right now, but there's a whole lotta power to be reckoned with once it's on the hunt in full. Give it some time.

EP Sato Fri, Jul 13, 2007 at 02:53 PM EST

Props where it's due, these are the first anon postings I've seen on these boards that ROCK THE HOUSE! Kudos for those insightful posts.

And for the record, Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast remains my favorite home system videogame of all time.

Anonymous Fri, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:18 PM EST

And to show that I'm not biased towards successful platforms, let me also give a shout-out to the Saturn and the Dreamcast! The Saturn for all its hangups put the PS1 to shame in the 2d department, while the DC brought killer 3d, along with killer games, at an affordable price.

I think part of the Wii's problem right now is that 3rd parties initially didn't have much faith in it and were caught off guard by its success. I do believe we'll be seeing a lot more support from them in due time. For their part, the underappreciated Atlus just announced their new game in the Trauma Center series, subtitled New Blood. Hopefully the Shin Megami Tensei RPG franchise will follow, especially since it'll give the Wii much needed hardcore RPG credibility.

Anyways, it's too early in the Wii's lifespan to judge it. Remember how awesome the DS became all of a sudden? The same could happen to the Wii, though it could take a little longer because many 3rd parties boarded the ship a little late.

Anonymous Fri, Jul 13, 2007 at 12:00 PM EST

You already fielded requests? Doh! I wanted to know if you could bring impressions of Contra 4 for the DS, which by all accounts is a return to series standards.

And since the Final Fantasy IV port for GBA came out in winter 2005, didn't you mean Final Fantasy V Advance? Now that was the first time they really nailed the job system. Speaking of Final Fantasy IV, they're doing an actual 3d remake of it for the DS, as opposed to the GBA port. Hope they also do a 3d remake of Final Fantasy VI in particular, which is quite possibly still the best in the series. (Haven't played FF XII yet though.)

Sony unfortunately really has shot themselves in the foot this time around. There's hardly any Japanese 3rd party support in the wings, and due to Sony's failure to support the system amply, 3rd parties are waiting for the system to pick up sales before committing to any new projects. In addition to this catch-22, Sony's 60 GB model price cut is a plan in order to phase out the SKU for the 80GB.

Matthew Fri, Jul 13, 2007 at 11:06 AM EST

I am super impressed that you responded to our comments. I hope somebody has a video of Jamie Kennedy dying on stage. He really should have stopped acting after Scream 2. I hope Nintendo does some cool things involving both the wii fit platform and the wii controllers. Perhaps the return of "Track & Field"? Im sure they will make a Tony Hawk game where you turn the Fit board sideways to skate. Possibly a skiing game as well. Hooray for inventive gaming!

Ep Sato Thu, Jul 12, 2007 at 10:33 PM EST

I stand corrected and appreciate the clarification. Still, Casey Parker's supposed to be from that neck of the woods...

RE: the LCD controllers, the Dreamcast also had plug in memory cards with LCD screens. 100% agreed with Kim that they were AWESOME. Some games allowed the player to do mini games with the memory cards alone! With the Wii's highly adaptable controllers (which seem to have taken some of the better elements of the more creative controllers of the past few years), is there hope for something similar to come out for different systems? Oh Popwatch genie, I've asked for much this week, but you know that's on my must list!

BTW Epsato's shorthand for the Puerto Rican term for a stray dog. There's no need to call a beach bum stray mutt "Mr" anything ;)

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