As some of you may know, this is E3 week. Game companies show off their products and possible vaporware. The various sites I check each day are clogged with E3 info.
Of course, it’s all the same information. E3 preview of this game, E3 preview of that game, ad nauseam. And I wonder why they make such a big deal of it.
Okay, so maybe they got a little hands-on time with the games. But it’s not like anything especially new is being shown. Most of the products have been “previewed” before now, with screenshots, write-ups, and trailers all over the ‘net.
That’s not counting the interviews with this or that developer. We already have so much information out there, what’s coming from E3 is almost redundant. All right, it is mostly redundant.
I’ll be glad when the show is over. Naturally, the usual hype will continue, so as to keep anticipation high among gamers. But at least it’ll be coming in smaller doses. I hope.
I guess you can call this a weak article.
I have to disagree with you on this one Scorp. While there wasn’t much new info on upcoming RPGs, there was a lot of activity on the console front. What I like at E3 is the trailers. Several RPGs showed off new gameplay footage, so even if they had been discussed before, it provides new insights inside a game when you can see it visually.
Nintendo announced 2 new peripherals for the Wii. The Zapper was the first, which combines the Wiimote and Nunchuk into a single unit with light gun functionality. It is supposed to be released later in the year combined with a game for $19.99. Duck Hunt Wii? The gameplay footage using it in Resident Evil looked like it will be a must have device for shooter games on the Wii.
The next was a balance board and Wii Fit, capable of doing fitness exercises, yoga, DDR, and more. Several health care and physical rehab companies have already approached Nintendo for possible uses of the device.
Sony’s biggest announcement in my opinion was the redesign of the PSP, making it slimmer and lighter, but also adding video out for connection to your tv.
Some of the stuff coming out of E3 is making me drool over an XBox and I’ve long been a console hater.
I blame Mass Effect!
Finally found a Wii for my daughter – her dad’s out buying it now. Assuming it’s still on the shelves when he gets there. They wouldn’t hold any.
Presto, that’s about how I was feeling by the end of the week. I usually do three passs a day across various sites, and after awhile, they all blended into one with the same reports.
Xian, maybe so. But still, a lot of that stuff was covered earlier, before E3. Imagine if E3 hadn’t happened. All that info would still have been released over time anyway.
Klara, good luck getting that Wii. Let us know if your husband was in time.
Wii did get it (heh)!
It’s pretty cool. So far we’ve only fiddled with it a little, and we only have the casual games that come with it (no big titles) but it looks like it’s going to be pretty neat.
It’s a lot smaller than I expected (about the size of a cable box!) and you really need to get a memory card to save games (it comes with 512k memory to store things on).
There is a lot more physical activity involved in playing games on the Wii than there is in most games. After a few games of tennis I was actually feeling a little sweaty. Then again I’m a couch potato!
Klara, glad you got it. The memory card will only help to a certain extent. The games don’t allow you to save directly to the card, so you have to copy it from System Memory to the SD Card if you need to make space. That is my biggest complaint with the system. For instance, Zelda only has 3 save slots. Me and both of my sons were playing it so if anyone came over that wanted to try it you have to copy your save out to a SD card, let them overwrite your save on the System Memory, then copy your save back when they are finished, a real hassle. They should have allowed saving directly to a memory card. On the Game Cube and PS2 we each had our own memory card so we wouldn’t overwrite each other’s saves.
The other thing I would recommend is picking up a Gamecube controller and memory card. There are some very good games for the GC that you probably never got to play since you didn’t have one and many can be found for $20 or less now. I would highly recommend either Metroid Prime though I liked the first a little better. I also enjoyed Zelda Windwalker, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Beyond Good and Evil. Your daughter is older than mine, but mine really likes the multiplayer games, Mario Party, SSX Tricky, and Super Smash Melee. The latter is coming out with a Wii version next year. We picked up Mario Party 8 for the Wii and it looks ok for the kids, though definately not my cup of tea.
Thanks for the recommendations, Xian. I’ll have to look into getting that GC controller… later. *grin* We already spent more than we wanted. But buying the cheaper GC games and playing them on the Wii sounds like a great idea.
Klara, congrats on getting your Wii at last. Sounds like you have some fun times ahead (maybe even take off a pound or two ;).
Congrats, Klara! Watch out for tennis elbow. ;)
I found that for the first few days of playing the Wii I was geting quite a workout. After that intial period I figured out it only takes a small flick of the wrist, so now I am not making the big motions so often.
We haven’t bought a lot of Wii games yet, but I would recommend Zelda of course, as well as Elebits and Excite Truck. We also have Rayman Raving Rabbids but the kids finished it pretty fast and I guess it didn’t have a lot of replay value. The up and coming Metroid Prime 3 Corruption is the next title that *I* am waiting to play on the Wii.
My daughter wants to get the Harry Potter duelling game, which sounds like a lot of fun for me too.
I already discovered the wrist flick but I’m trying to do the larger motions anyway so I can at least have firmer upper arms or something. *grin*
Scorpia,
Last year there were no games really worth playing or buying (outside of Titan Quest that is). And one big release after another failed to deliever the goods.
Neverend lived up to its name. It never ends.
NWN 2 was nothing new with a lot of problems.
Gothic 3 was released unfinished and looks to remain that way.
Mage Knight had some interesting things in the game. But poorly exacuted.
So far this year, most games that had promise failed to deliever as well.
Silverfall and Dawn of Magic were just more of the same. They had some interesting new ideas but poorly designed.
That looks to change during the second half of the year.
Overlord is getting one great review after another.
Two Worlds looks like it will be the game to beat this year.
It could very well be this year’s Oblivion.
But, with
Bioshock
Talisman
Loki
The Witcher
Hellgate: London
King’s Bounty
among others
Looks like this will be the year where the RPGs will strike gold.
What do you think, the all-knowing Scorpia???
“All-knowing”? Hah, ifI were all-knowing, I’d be a retired multi-millionaire by now ;)
As for the upcoming games, there’s no way to know until they’re on the shelves, or rather, on the hard drive.
I already know from the specs that Bioshock is beyond my system. I just hope most of the rest won’t be.
No games worth playing last year? I quite liked Oblivion, much more than Titan Quest. Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars is another I spent a lot of time with. I also liked Dark Messian of Might and Magic, though I didn’t buy it until recently when the price dropped to $19.99. The expansion to F.E.A.R, the best shooter to be released in years in my opinion also came out last year.
I enjoyed Oblivion a LOT and also NWN2 though it did have flaws.
I did NOT like Titan Quest. It bored me. Even the expansion didn’t hold my interest long.
FEAR was awesome and the expansion was good, but not as good as the original, in my opinion.
Didn’t KOTOR 2 also come out last year? Or am I mistaken about that? That was another I played like mad despite its flaws.
Oh, and today we did pick up Zelda for the Wii. I haven’t played it yet… my daughter has been busy with it. I’ll have a turn later and let you know what I think. Obviously she likes it quite a lot.
(I wanted to get Resident Evil 4 for the Wii, but Zelda was probably a much better choice for the kid. *grin*)
Well, Klara, when the kid isn’t looking, maybe you can sneak RE4 into the house and play late at night ;)
Yeah, I think it’ll be smuggled in one of these days. Even her dad wants to play RE4!