E3 2005
I guess this post is better late then never. I think after the fact there are a few major lasting impressions.
1) The industry is ever becoming more console centric. I knew this, but I didn't realize it untill all the PC games were sort of in corners.
2) E3 isn't so much an Industry Expo as it is an expo aimed at spending lots of money distracting fanboys/girls who get in. (getting in is appraently also not that hard as you qualify for being in industry if you work in a Best Buy, EB, Blockbuster etc.) There was a lot of money spent on things haveing nothing to do with the presenters product. Gizmondo and NC Soft, and Namco had huge dance routines. NC Soft had a live band with goth-a-liscous dancers shakin their groove things while scantily clad in vinyl. Seems like a kinda weird use of money.
3) Lots of the good stuff has either a 3 hour line, or is for press only. Kind of anoying, especially when the press only stuff can win best of show. If your gona get best of show you should be on the floor publicly. Spore Im looking at you. I also wondered if any kid who made a fansite and got a press pass got to see the stuff I didn't even though I have a vested buisness intrest in seeing the competition.
4) Fanboys will kill and grovel for swag. Seriously. It's real ugly.
5) Our game was very well recieved, with a lot of Holy Fuck moments from everyone we showed it to. Many said it was the best presentations they saw at the show.
6) Xbox 360 IMHO was shown too early. I got to play the need for speed game, but it was runing on two G5's (the alpha dev kit). In other words its not running up to spec. I understand they want to prove to everyone that they can deliver for the fall, but I didn't see anything special in the launch titles. (need for speed was nice, but suffered from bad aliasing) The titles for later release looked Good (and gears of war looked fantastic), but It just seemed like MS didn't really have any cool tech to show off. Enter Sony. I have no idea if the PS3 videos are realtime or what not (my guess is no) but they sure did make the 360 look bad. Im not sure if first mover advantage with the 360 and the power of Xbobx-Live will let the Xbox 360 survive against superior hardware, but it might. But I still feel they have no chance in Japan.
7) PS2 has some awesome games in the works. In fact most of the games I saw and liked were PS2 games
Okami -(sooo coool its a game done in an NPR style to look like a japanese watercolour my fav at the show)
Shadow of Colasus - from the Ico guy
Destroy all Humans - Plan 9-esque 50's sci fi alien game
Gengi - Japanese sword action
We <3 Katamari - duh
1) The industry is ever becoming more console centric. I knew this, but I didn't realize it untill all the PC games were sort of in corners.
2) E3 isn't so much an Industry Expo as it is an expo aimed at spending lots of money distracting fanboys/girls who get in. (getting in is appraently also not that hard as you qualify for being in industry if you work in a Best Buy, EB, Blockbuster etc.) There was a lot of money spent on things haveing nothing to do with the presenters product. Gizmondo and NC Soft, and Namco had huge dance routines. NC Soft had a live band with goth-a-liscous dancers shakin their groove things while scantily clad in vinyl. Seems like a kinda weird use of money.
3) Lots of the good stuff has either a 3 hour line, or is for press only. Kind of anoying, especially when the press only stuff can win best of show. If your gona get best of show you should be on the floor publicly. Spore Im looking at you. I also wondered if any kid who made a fansite and got a press pass got to see the stuff I didn't even though I have a vested buisness intrest in seeing the competition.
4) Fanboys will kill and grovel for swag. Seriously. It's real ugly.
5) Our game was very well recieved, with a lot of Holy Fuck moments from everyone we showed it to. Many said it was the best presentations they saw at the show.
6) Xbox 360 IMHO was shown too early. I got to play the need for speed game, but it was runing on two G5's (the alpha dev kit). In other words its not running up to spec. I understand they want to prove to everyone that they can deliver for the fall, but I didn't see anything special in the launch titles. (need for speed was nice, but suffered from bad aliasing) The titles for later release looked Good (and gears of war looked fantastic), but It just seemed like MS didn't really have any cool tech to show off. Enter Sony. I have no idea if the PS3 videos are realtime or what not (my guess is no) but they sure did make the 360 look bad. Im not sure if first mover advantage with the 360 and the power of Xbobx-Live will let the Xbox 360 survive against superior hardware, but it might. But I still feel they have no chance in Japan.
7) PS2 has some awesome games in the works. In fact most of the games I saw and liked were PS2 games
Okami -(sooo coool its a game done in an NPR style to look like a japanese watercolour my fav at the show)
Shadow of Colasus - from the Ico guy
Destroy all Humans - Plan 9-esque 50's sci fi alien game
Gengi - Japanese sword action
We <3 Katamari - duh