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Edge Talks To Peter Moore
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,
The final of Edge’s interviews with the various “heads of state” of the three console competitors has now been published, as they talk to Microsoft’s Peter Moore on the Xbox 360. This is probably the least “technical” of the interviews, given that Microsoft has already launched their hardware into the market, and instead focuses on the gaming experience that people will see on the Xbox 360. Moore comments that he liked what he saw of the Wii controller, but didn’t really see the benefit of the Playstation 3 controller. Of course, given that there weren’t that many titles on the PS3 that featured motion sensitivity, there really wasn’t a good chance to see what developers could really do with the new technology, and how well it would stack up to the Wii.
Edge kind of slams Microsoft for the prevalence of first person shooters on the Xbox 360, but realistically, this is a reflection on the current focus of the industry, and not something that is tied to the Xbox 360. Of course, the Wii should offer more varied experiences, but this is more of a reflection of Nintendo’s development practices than anything else. But to slam the Xbox 360 for the games that third party developers choose to focus on seems a bit harsh, since the gaming industry basically is just following the money trail.
Of course, Moore also talks Xbox Live Arcade, which currently seems to be the path that Microsoft sees to the casual gamer. With the numbers Uno has seen, this seems to be working. Other titles like Lumines may also help drive this, though it’s hard to see where a gamer would decide to spend $400 on a console to get Lumines and Uno exclusively. But gaming experiences like this may expand the mindset of customers that the Xbox 360 doesn’t just offer hardcore gaming experiences.
Read More 
| Next Generation
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Phil Harrison On Sony’s E3
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, PlayStation 3,
Following up on last week’s interview with Satoru Iwata, today, Edge Magazine’s interview with Phil Harrison of Sony is published. Overall, while Sony showed some great games at E3, their exclusive press conference left a little to be desired. Harrison admits as much; when asked if there was a letdown after the previous year’s showing, he states, “Yeah, I agree with that, and I don’t quite know why that is. I guess, um, when something is new and exciting and heard for the first time, that elicits a certain reaction emotionally, compared to when you’re just confirming something that people already know.”
Certainly gamers would be glad to have the old Playstation-style controller back, but when your large controller innovation is “motion-sensing” which had already been announced by Nintendo, then this strongly gives the impression of someone that is a follower, and not an innovator. Add to that the fact that despite their justifications of the dual SKU market, it does appear that Sony went back on their word. Harrison’s explanation, that “he PlayStation 3 format is exactly the same between the two SKUs. Our competitor has a different format between the two SKUs - one with a hard drive, one without - but all PlayStation 3s have a hard drive” rings a little false when there are clearly differences between the hardware, and there is no upgrade path between on PS3 SKU to the other. On the Xbox 360, at least, if the gamer wants to add a hard drive later, this is possible, but to this day, there has been no announcement of a way for the lower priced PS3 SKU to get HDMI support; while this may not impact games at the beginning, the higher picture quality promised by HDMI 1.3 all but ensures a different experience between the two PS3 tiers.
The pricing of the PS3 on its own probably would have acted as a buzzkill, but combined with the apparent aping of its competitors and the backtracking of several promised from the 2005 E3, it is easy to see why the announcement was less successful.
Read More | Next Generation
Halo 3 E3 Trailer Documentary Now Available
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Corporate News, E3, First Person Shooters, Trailers, Xbox 360,
Last week Bungie confirmed that a documentary about the making of the Halo 3 E3 trailer was forthcoming. Today they released the video which is available on Bungie.net in QuickTime and Windows Media formats including HD versions. Surprisingly the documentary is not currently available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Included in the documentary are new angles and scenes, a feature on making the music for the trailer, along with “hints of things to come”. The video also features Bungie employee reactions to the end of Halo 2 and humorous comments about the development process.
The most notable quote comes from Martin O’Donnell, aka Marty, “We want this to be the return of the king. We want this to be the final chapter in an epic trilogy.”
Read More 
| Bungie.net
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Motion Controller In Development For Over 2 Years - According To Sony
Posted by John Goulden Categories: E3, Editorial, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Rumors, Wii,
When Sony unveiled their motion controller at E3 the response of the audience was underwhelming to say the least. From all appearances, it seemed as though Sony was trying to capitalize on Nintendo’s Wii controller, and lessen the impact Nintendo’s new console was going to have on the PS3. A form of “me too” permeated their keynote and questions began to fly.
After a few weeks of the rumors floating around, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide president Phil Harrison was quoted as saying, “In a way I understand why people say [we stole Nintendo’s idea], but it is a little stupid, if you forgive the remark.” Phil elaborated by describing how Sony brought 3D graphics to the console market with the advent of the original PlayStation, yet did not cry “foul” when Nintendo released their 3D capable console, the N64. To help further squash the rumors, David Reeves, SCE Worldwide president and CEO, had the following to say: “We’ve had a positive reaction to the controller and obviously some people have asked if it’s a last minute thing. It’s not - it’s been planned for around two and a half years.”
It’s entirely feasible that Sony has worked on and developed the controller in absolute secrecy for over two years. However, it is difficult to imagine that there wasn’t a leak somewhere along the way giving even a hint of the controller’s motion capabilities. Even harder to believe is that Sony would remain totally silent on their “in development” motion controller, especially once Nintendo started to provide hints about the Wii’s controller.
To further cloud the issue, we spoke with a developer from Electronic Arts when we were at E3. It was the day of Sony’s announcement, and the question we asked was in regards to Madden 2007. We were curious to know how EA planned on implementing the PS3’s motion controller, as we had just seen Nintendo’s adaptation of Madden 2007 on the Wii. The developer looked at us for a moment, and then, in a wry tone of voice, said that they had only learned of the motion controller that very morning during Sony’s keynote, the same as everyone else. Secrecy is all well and good, but you would think the game developers would need a bit of beforehand knowledge so they could perform proper game development.
In the end, did Sony have their motion controller in development for over two years, long before Nintendo provided information as to the Wii’s abilities? It’s hard to say at this point, and we may never know, but it’s not inconceivable to think that Sony was scrambling for something that would help them “save face”.
Read More | GameDaily BIZ
NY Times Loves “Minimalist” Wii, Interviews Iwata & Miyamoto
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: E3, Nintendo, Wii,
The New York Times is arriving a little late to the scene with their own article on the Nintendo Wii. Don’t expect to find detailed technical specifications or descriptions of how the controller works in this article; a lot of the content in this article has been said before. Still, this marks one of the highest-profile articles dedicated to the Wii, and you will find some interesting philosophical discussions on Nintendo’s strategy for the upcoming generation of consoles.
As an added benefit, the article has a link to an NY Times interview with “The Forces Behind Wii”, Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto. Again, don’t expect a ton of new content, but there are some interesting tidbits. Iwata does note that the biggest concern between now and launch time for the Wii is simply producing enough units and getting word-of-mouth going through hands-on demonstrations.
Read More | NY Times
Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai talked to Dean Takahashi at E3 about the PS3 post-announcement, about pricing and their plans for the next generation of gaming. Hirai felt generally positive about the announcement, generally expressing that Sony was able to stay on message for the press. Of course, the question of price came up, and Kaz’s response basically parroted the Sony party line, saying “We get no breaks. If we didn’t say the price, you would be all over us for that. I think that is the right price for what we’re bringing to consumers.” But of course, the price has been an issue, and has really dominated the conversation about the PS3. While Sony might have felt like they were in a lose-lose situation on the price announcement, putting such large numbers out there has really made any discussion about the Playstation 3 in the media start with the cost, pushing their positives to the side.
Also discussed was the impression of arrogance that Sony gave at the press conference; to some extent Sony has earned a little arrogance in the gaming arena, since dominating with both the original Playstation and the Playstation 2, but to say that Sony “ushered in the era of the CD-ROM and 3-D” pushes things a little bit. A small measure of arrogance from the current leader can help, but there’s a fine line between enough and too much, and a lot of gamers feel that Sony has counted on their mindshare a little too much in this generation.
Overall, Sony wanted their message to be about the content, and about the advantages that Cell and Blu-ray will bring to the next generation. Sony wants to extend the console lifecycle, and expand the market, but these messages were seemingly easily lost in the uproar over the cost that gamers will pay to play with Sony this holiday season.
Read More | Mercury News
Nintendo Knocks Out E3 Competition
Posted by Thea Davis Categories: Corporate News, E3, Nintendo, Wii,
The entire buzz coming out of E3 has centered on the new Nintendo Wii console, and its magic stick…er, the vibrating remote and controller. While the other two big players, Microsoft and Sony, mainly introduced systems that are basically the same as their previous models—just faster and bigger—Nintendo KO’d the competition by introducing a truly innovate gaming experience. And the lower price point didn’t hurt either. To Microsoft’s credit, the Xbox 360 had already upped the ante. But sometimes it’s the one calling a bluff that takes our collective breath away.
Read More | Buffalo News
Japanese Developers On Next Generation
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: E3, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
Famitsu was able to talk to a bunch of the Japanese developers at E3 to get their opinions on the next generation of consoles, and Next Generation has the translation. The opinions seem to be pretty much off-the-cuff remarks, so there’s not a lot of heavy or in-depth information, and most of the response is positive for all consoles. Famitsu was able to talk to developers from Capcom, Tecmo, Sega, Namco, and more.
Amongst the praise for the new consoles, a few insults were tossed, most notably from the outspoken game designer from Team Ninja, Tomonobu Itagaki, who reportedly said, “It is most interesting to see Sony made the decisive judgment to revert the PlayStation 3 controller to its true shape. It takes great bravery for a company to change something that has already been announced.” He is still probably the Xbox 360’s biggest backer in Japan, as well, declaring “America’s love for the Xbox 360 has yet to waver. If only America would just explain Japan why they love the Xbox 360 already…” and also suggested that he might consider developing a title for Nintendo’s Wii, if only to give a break to people between their sessions of Dead or Alive Extreme 2.
Overall, however, developers seemed genuinely interested in how the Wii controller will shake things up, some effusive, while some were cautious about how well the controller would really take hold in the market. Concerns were expressed over the PS3 price, but many thought that the hardware was strong and the networking possibilities were intriguing.
Read More | Next Generation
Wii Wins Game Critics Best of Show E3 2006
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: E3, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360,
The Game Critics awards for E3 2006 have been announced, and the winner of Best of Show this year is Nintendo’s Wii console, beating out Assassin’s Creed,Bioshock, Gears of War, and Spore to take the overall title. The Wii also took best hardware, while Will Wright’s Spore was voted Best Original Game, Best Simulation Game, and Best PC Game. Epic’s new Xbox 360 shooter, Gears of War won Best Console Game. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass came away with the award for Best Handheld Game, the rest of Nintendo’s showing was represented by Excite Truck as Best Racing Game, and Wii Sports as Best Sports Game.
In terms of console platform wins, Nintendo’s Wii led the pack with 4 wins, followed by the Xbox 360 with 3, and the PS3 with 2. Nintendo’s showing was quite impressive, given that the Xbox 360 was heading into its second generation of game titles, and had a number of great games shown; the amount of wins is a testament to Nintendo’s preparation and readiness for this Holiday season. Microsoft may have suffered a little bit due to the sheer number of nominations seen for the Xbox 360 platform; Xbox 360 games received a total of 21 nominations, resulting in multiple Xbox 360 games up for the same awards. Overall, Sony’s strongest showing were the games Heavenly Sword and Assassin’s Creed, which took Best Fighting Game and Best Action/Adventure Game respectively.
The full list of nominees (winners bolded) after the jump.
Click to continue reading Wii Wins Game Critics Best of Show E3 2006
Bill Gates Dismisses Wii Controller
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Culture, E3, Wii, Xbox 360,
Bill Gates, speaking recently to MTV.com, was fairly dismissive of the motion-control technology that Nintendo and Sony are introducing in the next generation of consoles. Gates said, “There’s room for innovation here, but moving that controller around — it’s… not mainstream for most games… It’s tough because sometimes you move the controller, and you don’t [mean] to fly into the ground. You just want to put the controller down.” Of course, it is easy to see why this could be confusing to Gates, after all, with all the coverage given to the Wii during E3, there really wasn’t any mention of a “pause” feature. The ability to pause a game has only been included in almost every game to hit the shelves since Microsoft’s original Sidewinder Freestyle controller shipped. Gates would continue, “People aren’t that good at totally standing still.” While it is understandable that Gates might not have seen any of the actual Wii trailers on the Internet, he certainly must have passed by the Nintendo booth; the only people that might have been standing perfectly still would have been those waiting in the multiple-hour line to get a look at what Nintendo has accomplished. Gates mentioned that he leaves the details of running the games division to others, which is a good thing, considering that while he implied that Microsoft had no plans in the near future for a handheld gaming device, he is still stumping for some kind of unwieldy convergence device, “will you carry… a media device and a phone and a gaming device and, say, a tablet device for reading…” So gamers may be waiting for a while for their ideal portable gaming device from Microsoft.
Read More | MTV.com
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