My thoughts on…E3 ‘06

May 16th 2006 -

E3, the gaming mecca of the world, has closed its doors for yet another year. And I, being a die-hard gamer, just had to post about it. Though I was not there in person (Lord if only), I caught G4’s coverage of the event. As much as I could anyway, because my summer job has taken up a lot of my time. The little I saw blew my mind though. So much so that if I were to post every single thought I had about the event, it would take up about two additional posts. But for the sake of my readers and their short attention spans, I’ll try to condense my thoughts. Here goes.

From the hardcore to the casual, gamers flocked to the E3 show floor, eager to see and perhaps play the next gen consoles and upcoming games that would rob them of even more of their lives, grab some “shwag” (geek speak for marketing junk), and maybe scope out some booth babes. The big news this year was of course the release of the Wii and the PS 3. The Wii did not disappoint. Its controller was by far the most unusual and innovative of the bunch. Nintendo hopes that the simple to use controller and affordable price ($200) will attract non-gamers to gaming. Despite the name change, gamers were willing to forgive Nintendo as they happily played some of the Wii’s offerings. And though the majority of the games were PG-13, there were a few adult oriented titles. Will they help to finally shatter Nintendo’s kiddy image? Well see.

The PS3 also made gamers tremble in anticipation. Let’s see. Sleek design. Check. Minimalist construction. Check. Innovations such as Blue Ray and a faster processor. Check. $600 price tag. Wait. What the hell? That’s right. If you wanna get your hands on Sony’s latest console offering, it’ll set you back $600. No way in hell am I paying that much. Sony seems to have gotten arrogant in its top position in gaming, and seems to have forgotten that its main customers are teens whose major source of income is their after school jobs at McDonalds. This may kill the PS3 before it’s even born, and its competitors with their more affordably priced consoles will be sure to swoop down and devour its market share. Not much buzz surrounding the Xbox 360, aside from the new games, which were all impressive, especially Halo 3.

E3 offered some of the most visually stunning games since…ever! From Halo 3 to Assassin’s Creed, these games are sure to push the hardware of all the consoles to their limits. Games I’m personally interested in playing are Spore, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Metal Gear Solid 4, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Assassin’s Creed, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Quake Wars, God of War 2 and so much more. Oh, and speaking of eye candy, let’s not forget the lovely booth babes, living marketing ploys designed to attract gamers, and a constant reminder of the girls they’ll never get. Fanboys didn’t pay much attention to them though, as the busily played away at whatever console tickled their fancy. All in all, one of the best E3s ever.