These are my personal thoughts on the Nintendo E3 2008 Press Conference. A lot of this was written while watching the press conference, some added and edited after. So here are some thoughts on the press conference.

Shaun White Snowboarding: This game looks like another generic snowboarding game, but it will use the Wii Balance board so it looks like actual fun. Games like this make the balance board seem like a worthy accessory. Not much to say about the graphics, it’s Wii so you can’t expect too much. Expect this by the end of 2008.

Iwata-san’s Introduction: He reflects on his experience at E3′05 and how people were pessimistic about Nintendo. He uses this to show how Nintendo has overcome everything and is now owning everyone. He continues to mention the obvious that people are still buying games such as Brain Age, Mario Kart DS, Nintendogs, and New Mario Bros. for DS. It’s good to know that the teams behind the Mario and Zelda classics are hard at work, probably means we won’t see anything from those camps this presentation, bummer. Iwata-san continues to mention how Nintendo has done a good job expanding the audience of the Wii through Wii Sports, Wii Play, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Fit, as well as GH3 which is apparently outselling the other platforms. That’s surprising, don’t know if it is actually true. Iwata-san concludes the introduction by saying that he is going to continue to keep Nintendo as the pioneer and keep things fresh.

Animal Crossing – City Folk video/demo: I’m not a big sim gamer so I probably won’t be picking up this game. I did rent the original Animal Crossing back when it came out in 2002 and enjoyed the time I put into it, but I am not a big fan of games with no real direction or ending. The graphics don’t look very different from the Gamecube version, but Animal Crossing never thrived off of graphics. This game does add a new accessory call WiiSpeak which allows everyone in one room talk to others in another room. If this is compatible with Brawl or Mario Kart then it is filled with win. This game has definitely evolved since you can goto your friends town and they can visit yours. I probably won’t pick this up but I’m sure fans of the original will be very pleased with this installation. Look for it in November of this year.

Sir Reginald (Reggie) Fils-Aime’s Speech: Now the moment I have waited for since this time last year, Reggie is here to give us the numbers and more of his great presentations. Numberwise it isn’t even worth mentioning because worldwide DS is the best handheld and Wii is the best home console. Big surprise. Another big surprise, apparently Pokemon has helped Nintendo out last year. A lot of what Reggie is saying is stuff already known or could’ve been reasoned. Onto the previews, which there will only be three.

Star Wars – The Clone Wars video: Well we’re first treated to a lackluster voice acting job of Yoda. The graphics look like the new movie that going to come out later this year, which I think is really ugly, but that’s not too important. Gameplay looks ok I guess, it seems like something you’d have to try first hand before rating it, but I’m going to remain skeptical.

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party video: What can I say, the original Rayman games were made of so much win. I remember when Rayman could be mentioned in the same breath as Mario and Sonic. Too bad Ubisoft is cashing in on the Raving Rabbids, because Rayman 2 was truely in the upper tier of 3D platformers. Anyways, this game looks like it’ll be brainless fun for the fans of the original and little kids who can’t sit still.

Call of Duty World at War: I can’t say I’m too excited for this because Infinity Ward, the makers of CoD1, 2, and the recent masterpiece 4 aren’t developing it. Instead Treyarch, the team behind CoD3 is developing it. If the Wii controls actually make it more fun then I might purchase it.

Guitar Hero On Tour Decades: It looks like you can share songs with other people who don’t have the game themselves, which is very friendly for something related to the RIAA. Expect gameplay to be similar to On Tour.

Spore Creatures: Basically Maxis is putting the name Spore onto a DS cart even though it isn’t going to be the real Spore. Another way to put the Spore name out there while earning money for probably little effort. This is going to be a sim game so I have no real interest.

Pokemon Ranger (next) is coming out later this year.

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is announced for this Winter.

DS new use: Now they are testing how to make the DS a form of Yellow Pages. Mentions the Safeco Field exclusive DS baseball application that shows live clips and updated box scores of other games. Also a cookbook for the DS.

Wii MotionPlus: Reggie takes the stage again to announce the new add-on to the Wiimote which sends more precise data to the Wii, has definite potential. This would’ve been great if it launched with the Wii.

Wii Sports Resort: This immediatly shows the use of Wii MotionPlus, first with a frisbee throwing game. It’s pretty impressive how the add-on can pick up all those small movements. Looks like Nintendo has succeeded in opening a new door of innovation. Reggie immediately shows how that game isn’t manly enough for him and plays a Wii Sports version of Wave Race essentially. Reggie is pretty heavy on the wrist motion to boost the throttle. Lastly they show a sword fighting game that looks like it will be quite fun. Maybe Star Wars will implement the MotionPlus. Well the Regginator proceeds to beat Cammie’s ass, then he loses the next round (probably on purpose). I might actually pick this up because it looks pretty fun.

Wii Music: This makes me happy because I have been asking about this game pretty much since Miyamoto-san conducted the Legend of Zelda symphony to open Nintendo’s press conference at E3′06. This opens with some punk playing pretend drums, then Miyamoto-san waltzes on stage playing a jazzy saxophone tune. It seems Wii Music completes the initial batch of games Nintendo had planned pre-launch as true innovations. It seems Wii Music is really dumbed down so that no skills are requried since u only have to hold the Wiimote and pretend like you’re playing. 50 instruments are confirmed such as piano, violin, guitar, a variety of percussion instruments, along with the previously shown drums and saxophone. There are many modes including the conductor mode Miyamoto-san showed off 2 years ago. There is also a full band mode where u can record and mix videos together. They proceed to play the Super Mario Bros. main theme (not very well at that), but it looks fun regardless. Look forward to Wii Music at the end of this year, I know I’ll be picking it up.

Reggie Closing Comments: Reggie is publicly addressing the word “fad” with respect to Nintendo’s systems. He shuts down these comments and ends by saying that “Nintendo will always be searching for the Next Advantage to keep you smiling.”

MY CLOSING COMMENTS:
All in all this was an average press conference. None of the games they touched on are really what I want when I think of Nintendo. That isn’t a bad thing because there is a lot of new. Wii Sports Resort and Wii Music should be fun enough and the MotionPlus actually has potential. I have to say I am a little let down by this years press conference. Reggie didn’t have an awesome line, there wasn’t really a game for the true hardcore, and they didn’t even mention Chrono Trigger DS, which is going to be the best handheld game of all time. But in the end this just means that Nintendo has kept a lot of things quiet and next years E3 should be full of surprises. Next is Sony’s press conference, will this actually be Sony’s year? Find out my opinion soon.

These are my personal thoughts on the Microsoft E3 2008 Press Conference.   A lot of this was written while watching the press conference, some added and edited after.   So here are some thoughts on the press conference.

Introduction: Once again Microsoft is mostly relying on multiplatform games to show how great the Xbox 360 did last year.

Fallout 3 trailer/demo: This is going to no doubt be one of the best games of 2008.   First, a nice little trailer for the game is shown, very humorous by underplaying the threat of nuclear warfare.   The in game footage is looking great, going to be another game with superb graphics.   The game play is looking solid also, many different perspectives for players to choose which is looking robust.   Overall this looks like a definite purchase and has a shot at that second place spot for GotY ‘08 (behind MGS4 of course).   Look forward to it in September.

Resident Evil 5 demo: Well RE5 looks and plays similar to RE4.   Oooh, online Co-op, looks like Capcom hasn’t run out of ideas.   Hmm, there doesn’t appear to be as many Africans as the first videos showed, either that or their skin has been lightened to not seem “racist”.   It seems that Capcom has taken a few notes from Gears of War’s book with this Co-op gameplay.   RE5 looks to be as good as RE4 even though it might not be as groundbreaking.   Look forward to a March 13, 2009(Friday the 13th) release for Resident Evil 5.

Fable 2 trailer/demo*: Hey, its Peter Molyneux, I can almost see an aura of arrogance emanating from him.   Molyneux immediately shows off a newly added dog character which, I must say acts pretty realistically.   Nice graphics, a bird shits on a kid, I’ve never seen bird shit so beautifully rendered in real-time.   The game looks really good graphically but in some ways very similar to its predecessor.   Hopefully they take their idea of interactivity a step further and actually create an living world like they claimed in the original Fable.   Like RE5 Fable 2 is also getting Co-op gameplay; remarkable, the originality is inspiring.   Admittedly this Co-op gameplay does look like it will add a whole new layer to an otherwise single player experience (duh).   The execution is also rather seamless, all you have to do is interact with some purple orbs that represent you friends and your instantly connected.   They make a big deal about how each character is original but hopefully that means more than the 3 facial patterns present in the first game.   Fable 2 does look pretty interesting and has a great deal of potential, look forward to it in October.

Gears of War 2 trailer/demo: It’s the moment Microsoft believes everyone has been waiting for, Gears of War 2.   The original was a pretty good game, but not much more.   Don’t get me wrong, for the time the graphics were great and it was a great filler for Halo 3’s absence (if only we knew how not great Halo 3 was going to be), but when you take a step back and look at Gears of War you see above average gameplay with great presentation and a fresh coat of paint, not to mention the voice of Bender.   Anyways, onto the video.   This short trailer does nothing but show things we already know about the new gameplay (using a Locust as a shield), so I’ll move on to the demo.   Graphics seem updated a little bit, with plenty of new enemies.   They show using an enemy as a shield which looks fine enough.   Sweet!!! A flamethrower, I’m getting this game!   Overall this still is Gears of War so fans of the original should enjoy this game, hopefully they can get a bit more of a story this time though, because I actually want to know who Marcus Fenix is and what he did that was so bad, along with more about the Locusts.   Even Bungie did a better job with Halo’s storyline and that was so-so.   Look forward to Gears of War 2 for a November 7th release this year.

Back to the Microsoft MC: Once again pushing the whole “Xbox is for everyone” BS that makes clueless stakeholders want to invest more.   At least he is speaking on behalf of the whole video game industry in claiming the throne of all forms of media for 2008 based on a speculation from Price Waterhouse Cooper’s, hats off to Microsoft for not claiming it was all them from the beginning.   Right after this it’s more data which I don’t totally agree with.   First off there is no way the Wii is .1 million units below the 360, in fact if I were to guess I’d say the Wii is probably higher. I know it is worldwide at least.   Now Microsoft is making a quite haughty claim by saying they will sell more consoles than the PS3 worldwide this generation.   What a sack of shit, who does Microsoft think they are claiming they’ll beat the company who has dominated the console sales since 1997’s release of FF7.   God why can’t Microsoft admit they’re up against good competition.   I mean, Microsoft is about to get their assholes ravaged by Nintendo, and now with the release of MGS4, Sony is starting to reclaim some of the market they lost.   The way I see it, Microsoft comes out last worldwide with Wii overwhelming the competition and PS3 getting close to the numbers of the PS2.   Finally they say something truthful, that Xbox is the undisputed leader of online gameplay.   It’s just too bad that they don’t actually have good support for Xbox Live.   They also charge money, so I expect much more than the free offerings of other consoles online experience.   Now Microsoft announced that they have partnered with NBC and Universal.   Cool, nobody who has a brain cares.   Purchasing data that you can’t even own is totally worthless when you could own physical copies of it for a little bit more money if you are patient, or just go to a website that hunts down deals.   Next are new innovations to Xbox Live…

Xbox Live Fall Update: Well a new looking Xbox Live is coming out this fall “through the magic of software”.   Here’s a thought Microsoft, why don’t you save this COMPLETE redesign of Xbox Live for your next console, the 360 will be dead by 2010, instead of changing what doesn’t really need to be changed right now, just work on making that big change even better.   There’s some food for thought.

Dear god, avatars… what a horrible attempt to compete with Sony’s Home.   I much prefer to have my Alucard picture, or more recently random old guy from Ikaruga that “ga key” uses as his gamer picture.   Here’s a great quote “Where else besides Xbox 360 could you introduce the concept of an avatar and have it immediately become a community of 10 million avatars?”   Well pretentious dick why don’t you look to your competitors, take for instance the Wii.   The Mii function is a lot like this brand new avatar you talk about except that it’s been around since November 2006.   Not just that, but according to your numbers Nintendo has sold 10.2 million consoles in the US alone.   I believe the answer to your question is “When Nintendo sold there 10 millionth console worldwide.”   Also, hasn’t Sony had something along these lines planned for a while.   It might just be a hunch but I would say that the PS3 might be another medium, say if Sony gets to 10 million worldwide, which they already have.   So basically if Sony’s Home is released before your Fall update, two other consoles have already beaten you to the punch.   Next time think before you let more bullshit come out of your mouth.

Alright, now something a little more interesting, the Community feature.   I see many possibilities here that will probably never see the light of day, such as a Virtual XBLA Sync System (VXBLASS) which allows you to sync up with your friends so it’s like you’re playing on the same console (could be useful in the XBLA Soul Calibur just released).   Moving on, there is going to be 1 vs. 100 which is actually really awesome because it’s a great game show and Bob Saget hosts it (which is always a plus) but wait…there’s no fucking Bob Saget WTF!!!   Well here comes the announcement of Uno Rush, wow is it Uno but you’re rushed due to a lack of time?   Next is an announcement of a new Geometry Wars game, didn’t play the first, don’t really have a want so this game doesn’t make me too excited.   Wow, a sequel to Galaga, looks a lot more like a hardcore Japanese shmup than the original, might be worth checking out next month.   Oooh, a new Portal game for XBLA, should be fun and great, enough said. Lastly, South Park is announced for XBLA and nothing more than exactly what I said.   Hopefully its a remake of Chef’s Luv Shack, I’ve never actually played it but from what Vivek has told me, it was really fun for all the wrong reasons.   Lastly, a quick announcement of Community games, which would be more interesting if they didn’t show games that looked like shit.

Banjo-Kazooie 3 trailer: Sweet, something I’ve been waiting for since beating Banjo-Tooie back in 2001, good times.   Graphics look sweet; the game will no doubt be fun so pick it up when it comes out.   Also original Banjo-Kazooie was just announced as a coming XBLA game, and I am definitely look forward to it, even though I’m looking at the box right in front of me on my desk.

Viva Piñata 2 trailer: I didn’t play the first, but heard it was fun, I’m sure this second one will be fun for fans of the original and hopefully not a form of the shitty Party Animals title.

New Scene-It game announced (Movie edition)

You’re In The Movie game: God does this game look horrible, what a piece of shit.   The in game voice makes me want to punch my computer dear god.   I won’t go near that game with a 20 ft. pole.

Guitar Hero World Tour: New Drums, New Guitar, plenty of master tracks, and the music studio, which is everything we’ve heard before.   Some special announcements, early downloads for REM and full album for Metallica’s newest. Interesting news, haven’t decided if I will pick this up though, and for the record I have all the others.

Lips: A new IP from Microsoft for a singing game, it doesn’t really spark my interest, but I’ve never been a fan of singing games.   It’s pretty innovative though.   You can sing along to your favorite songs on your iPod or Zune.   I can already imagine singing “Hit ‘em up” by 2Pac….FIRST OFF FUCK YOUR BITCH IN THE CLICK YOU CLAIM….don’t think it’ll work well, but sure would be funny.   Duffy sang her hit single Mercy, not a bad song except I hear it nonstop everyday at my job.

RockBand 2*: 84 songs for RB2 as follows;

AC/DC–Let There Be Rock
AFI–Girl’s Gone Grey
Alanis Morissette–You Oughta Know
Alice in Chains–Man in the Box
Allman Brothers–Ramblin’ Man
Avenged Sevenfold–Almost Easy
Bad Company–Shooting Star
Beastie Boys–So Whatcha Want
Beck–E-Pro
Bikini Kill–Rebel Girl
Billy Idol–White Wedding Pt. I
Blondie–One Way or Another
Bob Dylan–Tangled Up in Blue
Bon Jovi–Livin’ on a Prayer
Cheap Trick–Hello There
Devo–Uncontrollable Urge
Dinosaur Jr.–Feel the Pain
Disturbed–Down with the Sickness
Dream Theater–Panic Attack
Duran Duran–Hungry Like the Wolf
Elvis Costello–Pump It Up
Fleetwood Mac–Go Your Own Way
Foo Fighters–Everlong
Guns N’ Roses–Shackler’s Revenge
Interpol–PDA
Jane’s Addiction–Mountain Song
Jethro Tull–Aqualung
Jimmy Eat World–The Middle
Joan Jett–Bad Reputation
Journey–Anyway You Want It
Judas Priest–Painkiller
Kansas–Carry On Wayward Son
L7–Pretend We’re Dead
Lacuna Coil–Our Truth
Linkin Park–One Step Closer
Lit–My Own Worst Enemy
Lush–De-Luxe
Mastodon–Colony of Birchmen
Megadeth–Peace Sells
Metallica–Battery
Mighty Mighty Bosstones–Where’d You Go
Modest Mouse–Float On
Motorhead–Ace of Spades
Nirvana–Drain You
Norman Greenbaum–Spirit in the Sky
Panic at the Disco–Nine in the Afternoon
Paramore–That’s What You Get
Pearl Jam–Alive
Presidents of the USA–Lump
Rage Against the Machine–Testify
Ratt–Round & Round
Red Hot Chili Peppers–Give it Away
Rise Against–Give it All
Rush–The Trees
Silversun Pickups–Lazy Eye
Smashing Pumpkins–Today
Social Distortion–I Was Wrong
Sonic Youth–Teenage Riot
Soundgarden–Spoonman
Squeeze–Cool for Cats
Steely Dan–Bodhitsattva
Steve Miller Band–Rock’n Me
Survivor–Eye of the Tiger
System of a Down–Chop Suey
Talking Heads–Psycho Killer
Tenacious D–Master Exploder
Testament–Souls of Black
The Donnas–New Kid in School
The Go-Go’s–We Got the Beat
The Grateful Dead–Alabama Getaway
The Guess Who–American Woman
The Muffs–Kids in America
The Offspring–Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)
The Replacements–Alex Chilton
The Who–Pinball Wizard

Bonus Tracks
Abnormality–Visions
Anarchy Club–Get Clean
Bang Camaro–Night Lies
Breaking Wheel–Shoulder to the Plow
The Libyans–Neighborhood
The Main Drag–A Jagged Gorgeous Winter
Speck–Conventional Lover
The Sterns–Supreme Girl
That Handsome Devil–Rob the Prez-O-Dent

As always there is a large smattering of songs with some not so respected bands up next to legends, I mean where else will you go from Jethro Tull to Judas Priest.   That being said we can take refuge in the fact that all the songs are masters and that there are some genuine surprises to the list.   A song from Axl Rose’s 20 year project Chinese Democracy is listed to appear.   Now I don’t know what this means for his album but I’ll definitely enjoy getting my Axl Rose on.   Another shocker is the addition of AC/DC’s first foray into either the rock band or guitar hero franchise, so true fans have something to be excited about.   Lastly, and my personal favorite, is the addition of Tenacious D.   Although they were included in GH3,  I’ve always thought their music would be perfect for the Rock Band party environment so it’s nice to see it finally included.   In a final announcement you can play old DLC games from Rock Band and you can play regular songs from RB, so don’t stop practicing those favorites.   There should be 500 songs by the end of ‘08 for RB2 so get that band together for a reunion tour.

SquareEnix announcements: I didn’t think it was possible for Nintendo’s Iwata-san or ex-Sony’s Kutaragi-san to be better at Engrish than anyone else, but I’m now proven wrong by Yoichi Wada.   Infinite Undiscovery is coming September 2nd, no new information on that.   Star Ocean is coming to 360 in Spring 2009.   The Last Remnant is coming November 20th on both 360 and Games for Windows and there is actually footage from this game.   SquareEnix still cares about having good graphics. It’s nice to see something that isn’t Final Fantasy coming from these guys; maybe we’ll have another hidden treasure (Xenogears, Vagrant Story).   One last announcement which is Final Fantasy XIII coming to the Xbox.   This really pisses me off and I will discuss the reasons why in another post.

*Some of the text was added by Vivek

MY CLOSING THOUGHTS

As a whole this press conference has left me displeased,  although we’ll be seeing Fallout 3,  and GoW2 very soon,  there were no BIG announcements that actually made me say,  this is going to be Microsoft’s year.   2007 was definitely Nintendo’s year to shine,  and although the other two press conferences haven’t happened yet,  I have a feeling that Nintendo and Sony’s press conferences will generate more hype.   I will definitely purchase a number of the games they talked about today,  but I haven’t been very excited for a 360 game since Halo 3(which was a let down in many ways).   Nothing does that for me from Microsoft this year.   I guess the 360 has definitely passed its peak.