My Thoughts On E3 2010

I remember as a kid getting the E3 preview issue of Gamepro sometime around April and getting excited by all of the previews of new games and systems that were to come out within the next year. It was one of the most exciting parts of the year for video games, second probably to only Christmas. Things have changed a bit over the years. The internet now provides us with a lot of the news delivered during E3 weeks before the event happens. Because of this, some of the surprise element is gone, but that isn't to say that I expected everything I read about and saw at this year's E3. There were still several things that I saw that surprised me.

E3 stands for the electronic entertainment expo. It is held annually in Los Angeles. It is a convention where all of the big software and hardware developers get together to showcase what they are working on and what to expect to see on the market in the next year or so. All companies at the convention have demonstrations and press conferences to announce stuff, and a lot of it doesn't interest me too much. However, some of it does so below I am going to discuss my thoughts on what interested me from this year's E3 convention.

• Hardware was big this year, but to be honest I am not too excited about Sony's Move. Not yet anyway. First of all, I thought this was a cool concept when I first saw it 5 years ago and it was called the Wii. Secondly, it remains to be seen who Sony is actually targeting with this device. I have a feeling a lot of the software that supports it will target the family friendly/young kid demographic. The PS3 already has the hard core audience, so I bet they will be trying to cut into Nintendo's younger gamer demographic. Until I see some evidence of this new device affecting games I like, I am not getting too excited.
• I've never been a huge fan of hand held games, but I actually think the Nintendo 3DS sounds pretty cool. I won't ever buy one but I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one to experience the 3D effect. Maybe this technology will transfer over to home systems in the near future?
• I finally saw footage of the new Zelda game! I knew they were going to show it this year and this was one of the highlights of the show for me. The game play looked fantastic as it uses the Wii MotionPlus to accurately map the sword motions you make on the game. The game looked a little cartoony for me. Twilight Princess is probably my favorite Zelda game and it had a very dark look to it, which I loved. I am hoping they just chose bright areas for their demo and the whole game doesn't look like a giant cartoon world. They even revealed the name: The Skyward Sword. They also announced that the music would be orchestrated, which is great news because the game has a fantastic score. As one guy on G4 put it, Nintendo could have displayed a blank screen and just played the music and I would have been excited. Overall I was impressed with what I saw. Like I said, a little cartoony but overall it looked great. The only downside is that this game isn't going to be released until sometime in 2011, but I am really looking forward to this one.
• Only some news on Gran Turismo 5, the other game besides The Skyward Sword that I was really looking forward to hearing about at E3. Sony set an official release date of November 2. I will believe that when I see it, as numerous release dates have been set for this game and have passed with the game not being released. They had a few trailers but really more of the same stuff that we've all already seen. Nothing new. The game will have over 1,000 cars (!!) that fill two categories. Approximately 800 go into the standard category which show minor damage but nothing catastrophic. The other 200 go into the professional category which will show major damage and include individual cockpit views. NASCAR is featured in the game and you can drive the cars on any of the tracks. The game will feature rollovers for the first time. I am really excited that damage is included in this game. As great as the Gran Turismo series is, it is a little unrealistic how you can ram your way through the field hitting anything in site and it not having a negative consequence. I also want more cars on the track at a time and smarter AI drivers, two other aspects of the GT series that I think is lacking. There was no word on either of this, so I guess it's just more waiting to find out. The one bit of news that was released is that the test track from Top Gear is included in the game (The Stig even made an appearance in the trailer). As I've mentioned numerous times, Top Gear is a car show based out of the UK that can be seen on BBC America. It is an amusing show where they test drive a lot of cars and have a lot of challenges with cars. On the show Sarah and I watched last night, they made a rocket out of a car. It didn't end well. Anyway, I was excited to see they included this in the game. Gran Turismo 5 might be my most anticipated game of all time. I guess I just have to wait until November (hopefully) to find out more.
• The trailer for the new Metal Gear Solid game titled Rising was shown. The game looked fantastic as usual and I will be keeping my eye on it in the future. It's a multiplatform game being released on both the PS3 and the Xbox 360. They showed a ton of sword action during the demo, and as this article from IGN reports, it seems as if Konami is trying to get a better mixture of stealth and action out of this new game. This, of course, goes against what made Metal Gear Solid so great and unique in the first place: its one man army, kill in silence, sneaky action. The verdict for me on this game is still undecided. I thought Metal Gear Solid 4 was fantastic and it featured a lot of action too so maybe I will like this new one as well.
  
• Finally, I really did not expect to see a GoldenEye remake for the Wii. That was quite surprising.