Back With a Vengeance + E3 Impressions

It's been way too long since my last post. The big gap wasn't because of a lack of interest, just a lot of personal crap to deal with. I got a promotion at my job, which has meant a lot more time at work and a lot less time gaming. I also moved, so it has taken a lot of time to get settled. These factors, coupled with the current drought of video games(at least until late August when Bioshock releases), has really kept me from doing what I love doing: writing about games. Now that it's mid-July, what better time to start writing again then the week of the new, slimmer, and hopefully improved E3. I had a chance to stream some videos during the week, and I got a chance to catch all three press conferences live on TV (I guess G4 still has some interest in gaming??). Overall I really wasn't impressed with any of the conferences. Microsoft pounded their chest, boasting about how great their 2007 lineup is-which may be the best fall lineup to ever release-but they had one 2008 game, in the form of Resident Evil 5 in a 30 second video which didn't show off anything special. I guess Microsoft knows they don't have to announce anything major because 2007 is already theirs. Nintendo is showing gamers that they are moving more and more away from their core fans. Wii Fit doesn't look like anything great, nor does it look amusing or entertaining. While Metroid Prime 3: Corruption looks great, it wasn't a surprise, nor does it look like a major notch in Nintendo's belt. So what does Nintendo have in the future? A new Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. Brawlers, and Super Mario Galaxy. We'll see if this lineup has what it takes to keep Wii sales up. Last and least was Sony. They needed to really step up this year and wow us with something great. Instead, we got a lighter, slimmer PSP that comes in white. Big friggin' deal. The PS3 game lineup looked great, but Microsoft pretty much has an answer for everything PS3 can roll out. Metal Gear Solid 4 is the last bastion for an exclusive game that can deal some damage, and while Killzone 2 looked good, it has to show a lot more than gritty graphics to prove it can swim in the deep end with the likes of Gears and Halo. Perhaps the biggest news Sony had to offer was announced a week earlier, when Sony dropped the price of the PS3 by a hundred bucks. Uncharted and Heavenly Sword looked good, but are they good enough to answer for games like Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey, Bioshock, Too Human, and that game...uh, Halo 3. Only time will tell what the video game industry has up their sleaves for us, the consumers, but E3 showed one game that is moving the industry forward: Rock Band.
More to come in the next few days...