Should they make a comeback? How big of a waste of time was E3 this year? Watching the coverage on G4, you’d think something important was happening. Maybe FPS With Different Shades of Brown 87 still interests y’all, but I’d say the show was rather bland. Even Electronic Arts, everyone’s favorite giant of a publisher, agrees that the show has lost its luster, saying that the show’s new format, shall we say, stinks on ice: I hate E3 like this. Either we need to go back to the old E3, or we’ll have to have our own private events. Thus spoke EA CEO John Riccitiello. Only 5,000 people showed up to the event this ear, whereas in years past it drew somewhere around the 60,000 mark. So, EA is saying, essentially, bring on “da noize,” or we’ll just rent out some hotel’s event space for our own purposes. That’s all well and good for the big publishers, but what about the little guy? Even Ubisoft harshed on the show this year. → Read More
Remember this? We should know for sure by E3, but for now it looks like Microsoft will release a 60GB Xbox 360 sometime this month. An internal e-mail, which I refuse to copy-paste here out of respect for the original source, Xbox Family, supposedly sent from Microsoft to GameStop and Best Buy details the company’s plans. In addition, Microsoft will release a stand-alone 60GB hard drive for Core and Arcade owners, and people with a 1st gen Pro, like me. Speaking of which, this new 60GB SKU is supposed to replace the current Pro model. The hard drive comes with three months of Xbox Live, a wired headset and an ethernet cable. Fancy. But yeah, E3 starts next week, and Peter and Devin will be having a blast running around from meeting to meeting, playing mud-colored FPS after mud-colored FPS. via 1UP → Read More
Mythological developer 3D Realms wants you all to know that work on Duke Nukem Forever continues at an acceptable pace. So acceptable, in fact, that its CEO Scott Miller used the phrase “seriously nicely” to describe progress. But it gets even better! The same Miller, when asked whether or not 3D Realms would be using this year’s “E3” to show off the game, laughed a mighty laugh. It’s just that we view E3 as irrelevant nowadays. In fact, I wasn’t even aware it was coming up. Words that infuriate Peter and Devin, no doubt, who will be pretending to work from the show floor if a few weeks’ time. Maybe the airline will loose Peter’s bags again, and we can tease him some more. → Read More
That Xbox 360 price drop rumor is gaining traction. This is the full-page Kmart ad; isn’t it grand? More importantly, the flyer where the ad is from is for the week of July 13, which coincides with E3 week. Don’t put it past Microsoft to use the pared down trade show to announce price cuts. → Read More
Nintendo put the kibosh on the rumor of a new DS at E3 after Enterbrain’s president supposedly told Bloomberg that there would be one. Now Enterbrain has issued a statement saying that Hirokazu Hamamura never said any such thing. “No such statement or announcement was made by the president,” the company said. “He did not, however, make a comment about the possibility of an announcement by Nintendo concerning a new model or successor to the Nintendo DS due to its current scarce product availability caused by its worldwide popularity,” the company added. → Read More
A few days ago I reported that Enterbrain’s publisher Hamamura was predicting that Nintendo would reveal a new DS at E3. Nintendo Japan is now clearing up the situation altogether instead of giving the typical “we don’t comment on rumors blah blah blah.” Nintendo Japan’s head of PR said, “We cannot comment on the specifics of what will be announced at E3, but at the very least there won’t be anything like what Mr. Hamamura suggested, so would like to clearly deny this. We’re having a hard time understanding what kind of evidence [Mr. Hamamura] had for saying this.” → Read More
The current Nintendo DS rumor going around according to Enterbrain publisher Hirokazu Hamamura is that a Nintendo will announce a new DS at this year’s E3. It was, however, unclear in the Bloomberg report whether or not it would be completely new hardware or a simple redesign. We’ll find out in mid-July. → Read More
What do you think of the sell-through rate on Madden titles versus Take 2′s urban sports series? Miss? E3 was once the promised land for game geeks. In a huge hall in LA you could get and play games, watch scantily clad women who were vying for your attention, and generally feel like you were a plugged in member of an elite gaming force. Now, however, it’s going to be a big boring conference full of industry types and no scantily clad booth babes. That’s right. You might as well stop reading right now. “The US is the world’s number one video game market and the E3 Media & Business Summit is its premier video game conference. The 2008 Summit will provide a professional and efficient environment for suite-based meetings with media, and other industry leaders,” said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents US computer and video game publishers and owns the E3 Media & Business Summit. “We look forward to welcoming the media and top industry executives to a centralized, business focused and personalized experience. Our program of high-level meetings, networking and personal dialogue, and industry-shaping panel discussions will capture the explosive growth we have seen in 2007 and lay the foundation for the 2008 video game marketplace.” Games are the new movie business: over-moneyed, risk-averse, and boring on the whole. Sad, sad, sad. E3 Returns to Los Angeles, But Remains Booth Babe Free [Kotaku] → Read More
http://p.castfire.com/Xu7m0/video/3425/bbtv_2007-11-02-213900.flv The video is a little choppy and the host is manic (and his story is quite sad) to say the least, but it’s fun to see what E3 used to be — a malevolent pleasure dome of scantily clad women and video games — and what happens when you subvert the status quo by dry humping Miss Pac Man. SFW unless you work for Pac Man. via BB → Read More
¡Viva la Rock Band! The expensive rock & roll band simulator won the Game Critics Award for best game at E3, beating out the likes of Derivative Shooter 42 and Mario & Luigi: The Golden Years. It’s a victory for something called i-n-n-o-v-a-t-i-o-n, something that, save for the Wii, hasn’t been seen in video games for quite some time. I wonder how Activision feels about taking Guitar Hero away from Harmonix? Woops. “Rock Band” takes top video game honor [Reuters] → Read More
July is almost a wrap, and it’s been two weeks since E3, and this will be the last post about the show. But we’ve had some time to think about what can be done to improve (dare we say save) the annual video game event. Let’s face it; the electronic entertainment industry needs a trade show. We in the press need to see the games, retail buyers need to see the games and small developers need to find a publisher. Can and should E3 be saved? Yes on both counts. We have a few ideas! → Read More
The video game industry executive shake-up continues. Less than a week after E3 Peter Moore has resigned from Microsoft to return to Northern California. The former Sega head honcho has cited personal reasons and has “secured another opportunity in the video games industry.” Could this be a return to Sega, or possibly a move to Nintendo? Both scenarios seem unlikely, but Nintendo reportedly has a few openings of late! Moore will be replaced by Don Mattrick, a former president of Electronic Arts, who will now lead the Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB) at Microsoft and will oversee the Xbox and Games for Windows businesses. About the only really important questions remaining are whether Mr. Moore will have those tattoos removed. You know the ones he had inked on for the Microsoft press conferences prior to past E3 shows to hype the release dates of upcoming games such as Halo 2. → Read More
Well, a week has passed and we’ve had time to consider this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Some two-dozen companies showed off hundreds of games, new hardware was introduced and most attendees probably spent way too much time on shuttle buses or stuck in traffic. So looking back, what worked, what didn’t work and what the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) should do to create a better show for next year. → Read More
Possibly the most notable difference about this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo is the show floor, or more accurately the LACK OF A SHOWFLOOR. Instead of the massive booths, pounding music and game sound effects in the Los Angeles Convention Center, this year’s “show floor” is a single room in the Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica Airport. It seems smaller than Nintendo’s or Sony’s booth last year, but despite the reduced size there were still a few gems to be found that weren’t being shown anywhere else. → Read More
Today we continue our report from the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and while some of the news of new controllers and upcoming titles has already been reported, we offer a recap of this morning’s press conference from Nintendo. Normally a long winded and self-serving event this year Nintendo was streamlined and to the point. → Read More
For those of us who have been impatiently waiting for Mario Kart to be released on the Wii, that wait is finally over. Almost. Actually, not almost. Not even close. Nintendo announced today that Mario Kart would hit the shelves sometime in the first quarter of 2008. What?! That’s in, like, a billion years. I’ll be old and grizzled by then. By 2008, I’ll probably have my own compact car that shoots turtle shells and other delightful objects at passing motorists. If you’re still in the market for Mario Kart by the time it comes out, you’ll be happy to know that it’ll feature online play and will come with it’s own gimmicky plastic steering wheel for you to snap your Wiimote into. A price hasn’t been set yet but if Nintendo stays with the whole “no game over fifty dollars” pledge, you might be able to grab the game and the wheel at a pretty decent price. If history is any indicator, Mario Kart should be a huge seller for Nintendo. Plus, the online play is going to bring a whole new element to the game. I will be purchasing it the day it comes out, despite the exasperated tone of this post. You had me at “Lets-a-go!” Mario Kart. How could I ever stay away? ‘Mario Kart’ coming to the Wii with online play [CNET News.com] → Read More
Nintendo today at E3 dropped a couple new hardware accessories for the popular Wii, including a steering wheel for Mario Cart, and a new Zapper. For those who might be too young to recall, the original NES Action System shipped with the original Zapper, which you used for Duck Hunt, and that’s about it. But Duck Hunt was great fun, and the Zapper became iconic. We’re hoping that now that your virtual gun can have motion sensing that many of the popular arcade shooters of the last decade can hit the Wii. House of the Dead with motion sensing? Sign us up. What we’re really hoping for is a new, 2007 version of Duck Hunt, wherein we can finally shoot that damned dog who snickers at us for missing. I hate that dog. New Nintendo Accessories [Nintendo!] → Read More
Despite adamant denials of cutting prices on the PS3, Sony has come clean and officially announced the price cut along with the addition of the 80GB version for the US. The 60GB model will drop to $499 while the beefier version will cost $599 and include a copy of Motorstorm, which will become available in August. Our neighbors to the North will also be privy to the price cut with the 60GB model costing C$549. The price cut was made possible when Sony was finally able to overcome earlier production issues with the diode that’s used in the Blu-ray drive and it couldn’t have come at a better time. → Read More
By this time of year the nightmare that is known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo should just be a distant memory, and those of us who made the pilgrimage to the Los Angeles Convention Center to cover the show should be fully recovered. However, the organizers opted for a smaller and more “business focused” event, and thus have moved the fun-filled event from the traditional May timeframe to July, and taken the show from downtown LA to Santa Monica. So as we prepare to depart for the City of Angeles and head to the beach we’re previewing what we can expect from this year’s E3. → Read More
Today is just chalk full of rumors isn’t it? Everyone is milling around the water cooler talking about the iPhone, so it’s time to look elsewhere for some juicy news/rumors. This one should make Wii owners happy, but not John, he hates the Wii. Nintendo is rumored to be showing off some new hardware at E3 and all signs point to an HDD. The fanboys are screaming for more storage seeing as how the Wii only contains a paltry 512MB of internal storage. So, what started up this rumor? The announcement of Neo Geo games being added to the VC are the main culprit. When games get up to 330MB or something in that neighborhood you better believe Nintendo will get off their laurels and come up with something to satisfy the Wii fans. Wii hard drive on the way? [Go Nintendo] → Read More
