5/27/2011

What the Big 3 Need to do at E3....

We are fastly approaching this year's big video games show and it's easily poised to be one of the most exciting in a long, long time with a lot of big things to talk about from each company. Of course we have a rough idea of what the each company is going to talk about, but not every one of them is going to be addressing issues that are staring them right in the face, so here's things they should be talking about:

Microsoft: Microsoft's biggest failure nearly every year is that they always play it incredibly goddamn safe. I don't remember a single year where I was pleasantly surprised by anything or even really surprised at all for that matter. We need to know that Microsoft hasn't pulled a Nintendo-esque move and is solely focusing on Kinect and its new casual base. And while catering to that base with Kinect isn't a bad idea, how about some games to show that Kinect is not just the Wii in HD without a controller? Because so far we've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Sure there's a Star Wars game in development. Big whoop, Star Wars games hardly have a great track record and there's several on Wii that range from mediocre to completely terrible. Microsoft might even want to go as far as at least teasing their next console in order to show that they are not resting on their casual laurels. And show us what the hell you are doing with Halo now that Bungie is no longer involved with it. That could be a great new opportunity on a number of levels. Some new IP wouldn't be a terrible idea either frankly as I'm getting a little tired of the 360's biggest guns being Halo & Gears and virtually nothing else.

Sony: Whether or not Sony will mention the huge security breach is kind of a question mark. They have dealt with it for now and they may just want to move on. But I think they should at the very least address it and reiterate why it will never happen again. But far more important are both the Move controller and the NGP. Sony needs to make us care about these products. The NGP already has a pretty lukewarm reception before its even out and with the PSP being a platform for mostly emulation and ports of old games that's kind of expected. Move hasn't moved much,being poorly marketed and shoveled into games that don't work well with it or never needed it. We know the tech itself is good, let's get some games out that aggressively show off why someone should get this over the other options out there.

Nintendo: Lat year, I think Nintendo knew the Wii's days of huge profitability were pretty much done, hence why they decided to more or less push nearly every core franchise out the door in relatively short time. It was actually a pretty good time to be a Wii hardcore gamer last year (the atrocity that was Metroid: Other M notwithstanding). Now it's time for Nintendo to move on and I'm pretty sure they know that(though throwing us a couple awesome titles to send the Wii out with a bang would be nice. With the 3DS what I think they really need to do is show some software not coming next year but coming out by this holiday season that we must buy now because the library for the 3DS is looking extremely pathetic atm and there is virtually no reason to buy one. One thing I think they shouldn't do is announce a re-design already like they are prone to do with their portables, it would just stall sales while people wait.
Now the big question mark is of course "Project Cafe", with so many rumors floating around they can't possibly all be true. But regardless of what kind of tech and tricks the new console is sporting, it seems like Nintendo is aiming to get back into the more hardcore gamer market with this system (I have seen at least one article suggest that it would actually co-exist with the Wii and they would serve separate markets which seems plausible). In order to do that, we need some new, possibly mature IP along with the great franchises that made them the icon of the industry they are today. We also need the price point to not be something that makes us shake our heads, even $299 better offer us a helluva lot for our money considering what we can get from the competition these days. But regardless of what Project Cafe turns out to be, Nintendo really needs to make the case that this is the Next Generation of gaming or else people may just not care.

That's it for today, I'll hopefully have a new post up Monday or Tuesday (possibly with a review of Kung Fu Panda 2 depending on my schedule). Until then here's your BIG BANG THEORY CLIP OF THE WEEK:

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