This week has seen many new announcements in the gaming industry, as was expected for E3. The Electronics & Entertainment Expo has long been the place to show off the newest technology, gadgets and gear a company has to offer. In the gaming industry it has been the venue for announcing some of the biggest games and releasing the next generation of gaming consoles. This year was no different with all of the big three – Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft – showing off amazing new technology, and some other companies announcing their own surprises.
Nintendo
With the monumental success of the Wii Nintendo has had little need to revamp their existing console, despite demand by some gamers for high-definition graphics. The biggest news for the Wii recently has been the introduction of a gloss black system with matching controllers. As Sony and Microsoft are both entering the motion control market with HD capable games I think Nintendo is soon going to lose the edge in this market. But, Nintendo did have a new system to show off, the 3DS. As the name implies the new iteration of the DS is capable of 3D images, without the need for expensive glasses. The 3DS has a standard touch screen on the bottom section along with the familiar controls, though a sliding wheel type joystick controller has been added which can be used instead of the direction keys. The major difference is obviously in the upper screen, which is a larger 3.5 inches, and trades touch sensitivity for the 3D effect. This visual effect is created using a stereoscopic system, displaying two images of slightly different perspectives to achieve the 3D illusion. Interestingly there is a slider control on the side of the system which can vary the depth from 3D down to 2D to suit the users preference. The system includes one internal camera and two external which can be used to take 3D pictures. Nintendo has also said that the system is able to display 3D Hollywood movies – don’t know how, but that is cool.
Sony
Having already achieved great success with the PS3 Slim, new hardware changes were announced for the PS3, though other rumours still persist. Sony has been showing off the new Move motion control system as well – and announced pricing. The Move system utilizes the existing PS3 Eye camera, used in conjunction with the new controller. While two controllers are shown in displays and commercials, only the one with the ball is actually required for the system. The second controller, dubbed the navigation controller is used for buttons and navigation, and does not include any motion sensing technology. The system will debut on September 19, 2010, the motion controller will retail for $50 while the Navigation controller will sell for $30. The Move system will also be available in a bundle pack including the Playstation Eye and Sports Champions. If you don’t feel like shelling out money for the Navigation controller the existing PS3 six axis controller can be used instead, though it might be a little awkward to hold one handed. Sony has announced upcoming games utilizing the Move system including a new game called Sorcery, a new title with Jak, Daxter, Sly Cooper, and Ratchet and Clank all in one game. Sony has also announced new 3D games for the PS3, approximately 20 by the end of this year including Killzone 3 (the 4th stage), the next Motorstorm, Ghost Recon, and Grand Turismo 5. A new level has been introduced to the Playstation Network as well. Playstation Plus will cost $50/year or $18/3 months, and will give members early access to demos and game give-aways like Qore and two PSN Minis. The standard PSN features will remain free.
Microsoft
This year’s E3 saw both the debut of a new console version and controller method, and some immediate price changes. Despite the leak of photos in a European advertisement Microsoft’s unveiling of the new slim Xbox 360 went very well. The new Xbox 360 S has a much more angular design rather than the standard concave shell of the existing system, in a beautiful piano black finish. Advertised as “whisper quiet” Microsoft is hoping to kill the stereotypical comparison between the 360 and a jumbo jet taking flight. This noise reduction is achieved through a change in the internal fan setup, using two small fans instead of the standard one, as well as a new cpu structure. The main feature changes are built in wireless wi-fi (which sells for $100 as a separate accessory) and a 250GB hard drive. The new system is on sale now, retailing for $300, the same price as the current elite model. This new system is the only one currently in production as Microsoft has stopped producing the arcade and elite models – clearing out existing stock through a $50 price drop.
Project Natal has now been officially named Kinect, and will be available on November 5, 2010, with fifteen games at launch. Games currently announced include Wii Sports, Wii Fit and Nintendogs – oh sorry, I meant Kinect Sports, Your Shape, and Kinectimals – just a slip of the tongue. All the games show how the Kinect system can sense the full body motion of users and interpret it on screen. Another game shown that caught my eye was a Star Wars game with full control of lightsaber battles, now that is going to be cool – no more hitting a button and seeing a pre-rendered move. Kinect looks like it is going to extend the trend that the Wii has started, getting people off the couch and interacting with the game world.
Earlier I mentioned another company announcing a new surprise, well, that would be SEGA. The company famous for Sonic the Hedgehog – which incidentally is getting a new installment, Sonic 4, and returning to its side-scrolling heritage – is going to be re-entering the console market after a really long hiatus. SEGA has announced it is starting development of a new console system to compete with Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft when their next-generation consoles hit the market in the coming years.
So, that is just some of the news that came out of E3, now for some opinions and predictions of my own, I hope they don’t seem biased – its more the wallet talking. While the pricing for Playstation Move has been released Microsoft did not announce the price of Kinect for when it does come out in November, though there have of course been rumours. Soon after Microsoft’s press conference Kinect was listed on major retailers including Amazon, Best Buy and Game Stop at a price of $150. While this initially seems like a lot compared with the price of the Move system I think Microsoft has an opportunity to turn this in their favour. After this free market research Microsoft can gauge the public willingness for the rumoured price and choose a different price point for launch, but they also need to advertise the long term difference in cost between the systems. In my honest opinion I would not be as tempted to buy Move as Kinect, even if I already had a PS3, as the cost of the system keeps building. Some games for Move require motion sensing for each hand – think of a boxing game for example – in which case you need to buy two of the Move controllers, that’s $100 right there, plus the camera of course. If you want to have enough controllers to play two player co-op in a game like that, now you need four controllers – that’s $200 plus the camera. I think you can see my point when you look at the fact that Kinect is a one-time purchase, that can recognize and isolate the movement of multiple people at the same time, without the need for additional accessories. The other thing that sways my interest is the innovation of Kinect, and the absolute abandonment of controllers. I think Sony is going to have to work hard to distinguish the quality and prowess of Move specific games from the Wii, which has a larger install base for what is arguably a very similar product. If the Wii is rereleased with better graphics and more accurate controls – which has already been addressed with Wii MotionPlus, I think the Playstation Move is going to be in trouble.
The biggest complaint that people had with the new Xbox when it was announced was the lack of a built in Blu-ray player, which I agree with, but also understand the difficulties. While it would be great to have Blu-ray included in the 360 as it is in the PS3, it would be very difficult to implement for games without alienating a large portion of the install base. One of the biggest arguments for Blu-ray in gaming is the ability to store more information on a single disc, thereby avoiding the need to swap multiple disks – which has happened on some 360 games. This presents a problem when you sell the blu-ray attachment after the system is already established, any company that switches to producing the game on blu-ray is going to alienate the large portion of the 360 install base that does not purchase the blu-ray player, and it would be too expensive to produce a distinct version on each format. Because of this I don’t think we will see a blu-ray player for the 360 anytime soon, at least not for gaming.
So, that is it for this issue, lots of new technology to see and look forward too, as well as some upcoming battles between Microsoft and Sony as they enter the motion control market, entering late into a field already dominated by Nintendo. Let the battle begin, and as always… Keep on Gaming.
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