- 1. When the Dust Settles...
- 2. The Winners
- 3. The Mediocre
1. When the Dust Settles...
The dust has settled in the wake of E3 2010, and we're here to judge the winners, the losers, and the merely mediocre.
E3 2010 has come…and gone. We’ve taken the last week to reflect on the multitude of announcements, reveals, surprises, and letdowns, and after some serious meditating, we believe that the products revealed at E3 fall into three separate categories: The winners, the mediocre, and, well, the losers.
Much of our focus was on “the big three” companies: Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. With new hardware announcements coupled with the usual software song and dance, examining the performance of the aforementioned power trio can give us a general idea of how the video games industry is shaping up. This year, motion-based game controls were once again on the center stage, but there were plenty of other interesting announcements from the goliaths.
But we didn’t give the standalone publishers and developers a free pass. Companies like EA, Activision, Bethesda, Capcom, and Ubisoft had plenty to offer, and we will sift through the hype to determine which companies struck gold and which desperately need to play catch up.
- 1. When the Dust Settles...
- 2. The Winners
- 3. The Mediocre
- 4. ...and the rest...
I agree with your article/review. Sony is making a big mistake with PlayStation Plus. Paying extra for what we already get free just because Microsoft does it. That just wrong. PSN will still be free, but to get all the extra stuff you have to subscribe. I say all PS member email CEO and demand to keep PSN free at all cost!
So the super ultra amazing valve announcement is that Portal 2 will port to the PS3? I would have rather them announced L4D 3 for $60 TBH, what a loser.
I'm surprised the cost of Kinect didn't bump it down a bit. A $150 accessory to pair with your $199 XBox 360 Arcade?
3D PS3 games? First-adopters already had to pay $700 for the PS3, so I'm sure they're lining up to buy that $3000 3D sony TV, after all, they have Peyton Manning AND Justin Timberlake in their commercials.
The 3DS should be awesome, but I would have really liked to see an HD Wii successor. I know Nintendo is anti-HD for some reason, but imagine the look on ever haters face if Nintendo had said, "oh yeah, we're upgrading the Wii to full 1080P". I mean, if Microsoft can "upgrade" the 360 to a PS3, er.. 360-S, why can't Nintendo follow suit?
I'm surprised the cost of Kinect didn't bump it down a bit. A $150 accessory to pair with your $199 XBox 360 Arcade?3D PS3 games? First-adopters already had to pay $700 for the PS3, so I'm sure they're lining up to buy that $3000 3D sony TV, after all, they have Peyton Manning AND Justin Timberlake in their commercials.The 3DS should be awesome, but I would have really liked to see an HD Wii successor. I know Nintendo is anti-HD for some reason, but imagine the look on ever haters face if Nintendo had said, "oh yeah, we're upgrading the Wii to full 1080P". I mean, if Microsoft can "upgrade" the 360 to a PS3, er.. 360-S, why can't Nintendo follow suit?
The Kinect sits at $150 by itself, but I am sure its price will go down when bundled with an Xbox. Also, regarding the Wii, I think Nintendo is content with its current console, and will be until Microsoft and Sony start ramping up for Xbox 3 and PS4 come 2013-2014 (assuming the decade road map holds true).
-Devin
Really putting VALVe as the worst? Maybe it's not a new shiny engine but now we know what the game will be like it's not that much of mystery but I do agree Move is pure fail.
I know Nintendo is anti-HD for some reason, but imagine the look on ever haters face if Nintendo had said, "oh yeah, we're upgrading the Wii to full 1080P". I mean, if Microsoft can "upgrade" the 360 to a PS3, er.. 360-S, why can't Nintendo follow suit?
It's a bit of a different deal. The more pixels you have on-screen, the more graphics horsepower is needed to get the exact same effects on-screen. PC gamers have known this for years; You can get 60fps in the same game with a weaker video card just by cranking down the resolution. Because the Wii only has to do 480p, it can actually get most of the same effects as you see on the 360 and PS3 with FAR weaker hardware. To give you an idea of pixel-counts, and hence relative demand for the same visual quality:
720x480 (480p) - 0.35 megapixels (37.5% 720p)
1024x576 (576p) - 0.59 megapixels (x1.71 Wii)
1280x720 (720p) - 0.92 megapixels (x2.66 Wii)
1920x1080 (1080p) - 2.07 megapixels (x6 Wii)
5040x1050 (1050p EyeFinity) - 5.29 megapixels (x15.31 Wii)
7680x1200 (1200p EyeFinity) - 12.29 megapixels (x35.6 Wii)
So that's right, to handle the exact same games, at the exact same visual effects, at 720p, Nintendo would have to make the Wii over two and a half times as powerful; nearly putting it close to the Xbox 360. (which is around 3-5 times as potent) In fact, these higher resolutions require so much, that both Microsoft and Sony have a few nasty secrets: their top shelf games actually never hit above 720p, and for the 360, a lot don't even do 720p; they do 576p (or something close) and simply stretch the image to fit. So in reality, it's a lot more complicated than it looks to make a "high-def remake." For the improved consoles, the fixes are more minor, easily changed; adding a new built-in device like Wi-Fi, or a new interface, or a new hard drive. They don't require touching the core innards.
So while we can (and just possibly might) see a revised Wii, don't exepct that "games run in 720p" to be something it'd bring, as that'd require replacing the GPU and CPU with something distinctly more powerful, as WELL as patches for each individual game to adjust it to the new resolution. Rather, things like an upgrade to the Wi-Fi, (perhaps to n) more internal storage, (perhaps from 512MB of flash to several gigabytes) and possibly DVD playback support. (though this could've been done on the original Wii through software...) But actually upgrading the internals to run games at a higher resolution would be equivalent to making a whole-new console.
Nintendo 3DS ... Vaporware ... You gave this top billing?
Nintendo 3DS ... Vaporware ... You gave this top billing?
How is the 3DS vaporware? Nintendo had forty or so girls walking around at their press conference, letting the press and attendees use them. First- and third-party software has been confirmed, and the likely launch timeframe is March 2011. I think you need to look up the definition of vaporware, buddy.
-Devin
It is still only a promise, and not even a promise for this year.
How is the 3DS vaporware? Nintendo had forty or so girls walking around at their press conference
, letting the press and attendees use them. First- and third-party software has been confirmed, and the likely launch timeframe is March 2011. I think you need to look up the definition of vaporware, buddy.-Devin
Devin,