Same as it ever was....

As usual Microsoft and Sony's E3 press conferences were full of missed opportunities.

Let's start with Microsoft-Is the 360 even really a gaming machine anymore? I mean seriously, the show was almost entirely about non-gamer things like expanding upon sports broadcasting, more Kinect functionality and just plain bizarre stuff like the Nike trainer program. Of the few games they did show, only a couple are even coming out this year, not giving 360 owners a ton to look forward to. And frankly, Halo 4 looked very blah. It was also a really poor decision to close out the show with Black Ops II, a game that was a known quantity and will be shown many times over the next couple days. Black Ops II on the Wii U would be a nice surprise, on the 360 it's like so what? We know that's coming, show us something new. It wasn't the painful embarrassment of last year, but still a very unexciting and disappointing non-event. I almost feel I could turn in my 360 right now and miss out on nothing since I'm not that big on online gaming.

Sony's press conference was pretty much like last year's where while it wasn't boring, they really needed to blow the doors off and fell far short. They showed a number of vaguely interesting titles, but nothing to blow anyone's socks off. Entertaining mouthpiece Kevin Butler was nowhere to be seen. There were some bright points-The Wonder Book technology actually looks very cool and anything that encourages reading for kids is great. All Stars Battle Royal looks like a lot of fun and will be a nice way to fill the void since a new real Smash Bros. game is supposedly a ways off. And Naughty Dog's new apocalyptic thriller The Last of Us looks amazing, so gamers have stuff to look forward to.
Notice how nowhere above did I mention the anemic Vita? Sony pretty much acted like that as well, barely mentioning it the entire conference aside from an Assassin's Creed spin-off. If there was one thing Sony really needed to do this year it was save the Vita. Show off some fantastic games, drastically cut the price, SOMETHING. But it was given less time and focus than the PSP had in any previous show. It's like even they consider it beyond saving. I can't really see a compelling reason for anyone to buy it at this point.

-That's it for today, I will be at work during Nintendo's press conference which is several hours from now, but I will be watching it as soon as get home and will post my thoughts early tomorrow at latest, but tonight if possible. In the meantime, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK:
Ninja the Explorer