Show's Over Folks

For those of you living under a rock, Thursday marked the end of the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo. I only realized too late that I finally have a job that would permit me to get in. Oh well, there's always next year. Actually for a trade-only event, the E3 is pretty crowded with tourists, fanboys, and useless celebrities. And I didn't even get to the G4 crowd.

What impressed me? Not the Xbox360. The PS3 makes it look like a Dreamcast (love that little guy) with no good games. The Halo 3 trailer looked great, but it was more of a cinematic than a game. I doubt we'll see any gameplay for a year or so. Additionally, Sony is out of their minds to sell a brand new system for $599 starting. Yes, I'll buy one for Metal Gear Solid 4 (sequel heaven these days). Yet, most people agree that it was Nintendo that stole the show.

To start, the originally underpowered DS (against a portable PS2??!!!!??) is paying off. The software out now and in the pipeline looks amazing. I may never play my PSP again. New Super Mario Bros, Starfox, Castlevania: Gothic Adjective of Creepy Intanigible Thing (the names are getting ridiculous), and Zelda look great. I'm dying to play Mario Kart and Metroid Prime Hunters. But the true light was revealed after. The Nintendo Wii. Okay the name kinda sucks. But the games, the controller, the style. I can't describe it, you just have to watch it. Nintendo will spark a true Revolution. Nintendo is doing what everyone else don’t, trying something new, pushing the enevolope, going further than the competition. The DS has two screen and a touch pad, the PSP is just a really powerful Game Gear. The Wii controller has more technology packed inside it than 12 Dual Shock controllers put together, the PS3 is using a slight variation of the same controller! Nintendo is redesigning it’s francises for the future, the Xbox360 is simply adding better graphics. And finally Nintendo is reducing costs. Where Sony and Microsoft are starting to get out of control, pricewise, Nintendo intends to sell the Wii at a price under $250, and in addition is going out of its way to reduce development costs for designers who just want to make great games.

Still, if I had to talk about numbers, I’d be worried that the PS3 will win because too many idiots who started playing games late (late = middle of PSX lifestyle) want HD graphics and more Grand Theft Auto... Sorry guys, Nintendo is back. It may be for kids, but its fun as hell. They are going to change the face of gameplay as we know it, and once it’s done, there is no going back.