This year’s E3 seemed a little less overwhelming than past years in terms of major news and announcements, at least from my vantage point here at home where I was just absorbing the coverage from G4TV and various video game websites. Certainly 2006 is a transition period between generations of game consoles, which explains why there are not quite so many games on display and why there was a lot of smoke and mirrors and jockeying for position.
Sony surprised everyone with the addition of gyro sensors to their Playstation 3 controller, although they had very little in the way of demonstrations to back it up. It’s pretty obvious that it was a response to Nintendo’s innovative Wii console, which Sony is suddenly being forced to acknowledge as a serious competitor. In a way, this small detail sums up the next-gen console war, with the normally assured Sony suddenly back on their heels a little bit, feeling pressure from the other two companies.
Sony is definitely the biggest question mark right now. The PS3 will launch in November with a steep price tag of $499 US for the basic package (without memory card capability or HDMI output). They’re relying on the Blu-Ray player to be a big selling point, but it remains to be seen how much the general public will buy into HD technology at the moment. (It certainly isn’t going to sell systems like the DVD player did for the PS2.) The Playstation will always have a solid fanbase and blockbuster Japanese games like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy to carry it, but they’re losing ground in a lot of other areas. For example, Grand Theft Auto is no longer a Sony exclusive; GTA 4 will launch in October on the 360 before the PS3 is even released. Their free online service may be a tempting alternative to X-Box Live, but a lot will depend on how solid the infrastructure behind it is.
Alternative user input devices seem to be the story of the year, with 2005 titles like Guitar Hero, WarioWare Twisted, and the Nintendo DS all paving the way for Nintendo’s Wii controller to hit it big here in 2006. Many people endured 4+ hour line-ups at E3 in order to try out a huge assortment of games for the Wii, like Super Mario Galaxy, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Wii Sports Baseball and Tennis, Red Steel, Metroid Prime 3, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (don’t be surprised if the Gamecube version of this game ends up being canned). I was willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt anyway, especially since the Wii has the most reasonable price tag, but this thing really looks like it could be a big success.
In terms of other next gen games, nothing else exciting or different really seems to be on the horizon. I think that better graphics is no longer a selling point for a lot of people, and it’s going to take something more to justify the $500 or $600 these new consoles cost. There’s even been speculation that with the prices of the new consoles, the sudden push towards HD technology, and games getting more and more complex, the divide between hardcore gamers and the rest of the world is widening. Could the game industry collapse under the weight of its own hype? (This guy thinks so.) Time will tell, but I think there will need to be more common sense in design, and thinking about how games fit into the average person’s life before video games can ever truly become “mainstream”.
