Consolation Prize

Well the major three players Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have all had there time in the limelight at the E3 show to shovel there wares and bamboozle you with statistics and claims but what really stood out at there respective conferences? The short answer was not a great deal. There were a few surprises, but on the whole there wasn’t a great deal that left me gob smacked and speechless. The following however, are my personal highlights from E3.

Microsoft NXE Dashboard

It was rumoured for a while that Microsoft were working on the introduction of Avatars into Xbox Live and as expected the “New Xbox Experience” (NXE) was unveiled which completely overhauls the Xbox dashboard. Removing all traces of the “blades” that have been a staple part of the dashboard since the 360 was born, the new lick of paint looks like the bastard child offspring should “iTunes” and “Mii’s” ever make sweet whoopee. Although the Avatars themselves are obviously a nod towards the more casual gamer and clearly influenced by Nintendo’s success I’m all for reinvigorating the whole Xbox 360 user interface. It’s hard to imagine how the existing dashboard could be enhanced further so it’s definitely time for a change.

Nintendo Wii Motion +

Wait… a new attachment to make the Wii remote accurately represent 1:1 motion? Wasn’t that how we were all sold on the concept of the Wii in the first place? Although in reality we know that the Wii remote was really just a “best guess” solution to your actual physical action it was an amazing first step at redefining the game-player interface. The introduction of the new gyroscopic sensor that attaches to the bottom of existing remote promises to further enhance this immersion and from the general feedback from those present at E3 the results are very impressive.

Fallout 3

Starting off with a retro 50’s stylised infomercial, the Fallout 3 gameplay presentation was quite enticing. Showing off some of the combat “Fallout 3” seems to be about choice, and according to the game director Todd Howard “allows you to play the game however you want”. I expect nothing less from Bethesda, the masters of the open world RPG, and Fallout 3 promises hours and hours of immersive free roaming game play. If it’s as good as Oblivion then we’re in for a treat.

Gears of War 2

Good old Cliff Bleszinski was on hand to bolster Microsoft’s press conference with a demonstration of Gears of War 2. Although retaining the muted colour palette of the original the demo simply looked amazing as Marcus and Dom traversed a Locust sinkhole and made there way through a collapsing building. A couple of the new game mechanics were shown off to good effect as Mr B used an injured Locust as a meat shield, and then picked up and implanted a shield into to the ground to act as temporary cover. The demo ended with the tantalizing prospect of being able to ride a “Brumak”, and an announcement of the new “Horde” co-op game mode which allows up-to five players to take on wave upon wave of Locust sounds interesting.

Fable II

I’ve been an admirer of Peter Molyneux for many years now ever since my fascination with Populous (1989). Admittedly I now take whatever he says with a pinch of salt as I know he sometimes suffers from a bit of over exuberance when conveying his ideas about what will may be included in his games. But there’s no denying that he’s been at the helm of some quality releases over the years, and even if they’ve not always lived up to expectations, they’ve always been very playable. With this in mind I’m very excited about Fable II. I really enjoyed the first game and so far I like what I’ve seen of the sequel. It will certainly be very interesting to see if Lionhead have moved the series forward as much as anticipated and I sincerely hope this time they’ve managed to achieve all they set out to do.

LittleBigPlanet

Although Sony’s conference presentation was a professional, but dull, experience Sackboy from LBP was on hand to at least provide a spark of amusement as Jack Tretton went through a series of back slapping stats. Sackboy, guided by the likeable Alex Evans from Media Molecule, bounded across logos, under figures, and over bar graphs until finally exiting the level with the vague release date of “October 2008”. LittleBigPlanet exudes so much charm and charisma that it’s hard not to get caught up in the hype and this is looking like my PS3 must have title of the year.

I’m not sure I like the new dashboard, but we’ll see how it is when it releases. There a plenty of games coming out to keep me busy though.