Articles
Ray and Jennifer’s
Excellent E3 Adventure
by
Ray Ivey & Jennifer Miller
Next Generation Console Notes
JEN: So yeah, there was some huge news at E3 this year, why, with
the little announcement that the big three are all developing new
consoles. The only one I actually got to see in action was the Xbox
360. The PS3 was lifted high in all its George Foreman grill glory,
but no playability on the convention floor. As for the Nintendo Revolution,
again, we only saw the console itself, but no game previews, not
even a controller. Come on guys!
Here’s
what we do know, if you care about such things. If you are anti-console
gaming, feel free to go out for a sandwich during
this part of the report.
RAY:
I’m sure many of the facts and figures that we’ve
been hearing about the three new consoles – Sony’s PS3,
Microsoft’s 360 and Nintendo’s Revolution – will
change before we can actually get our retail mitts on the systems,
but I wanted to share a bit of good news about all three consoles.
Microsoft’s 360 is slated to be backwards compatible with
Xbox titles. This is a good thing. Bethesda’s Elder
Scrolls IV: Oblivion currently seems to be the main reason to purchase it.
JEN:
The Xbox 360 will be released first. It’s white, it
stores MP3s, pictures, movies, and can even get you on the web. It
has interchangeable faceplates so you can cough up additional money
to make your Xbox truly your own. In the next revision it will make
toast and recite Shakespeare.
And the
games do look quite impressive, the afore-mentioned Oblivion being Ray and my particular favorite. And back from vaporware land
is Kameo. It lives!
Here
were my issues with the console. Do we really need a new Xbox?
With the graphical capabilities
of the original console, we have
to be years away of really pushing that system to its limit. It’s
typical Microsoft strategy. Release something that’s not really
needed yet and convince the public they absolutely have to have it.
They fooled enough people with Windows ME, why not with a new Xbox?
And yes, we’ve heard that the new console will be backwards
compatible with the older machine, but Microsoft was strange in their
wording. They said “all the greatest hits” will be backward
compatible. So does that mean in house games only like Halo 2? Will
that mean my copy of MechAssault won’t run on my shiny new
Xbox 360? Cough up the truth here, Microsoft! Give us something we
can believe in!
RAY: Sony’s PS3 will be fully compatible back to PS1 titles!
Yea! That’s really all I needed to know. I’m sure it
will be beautiful, blah, blah, blah, and no one knows the price yet,
blah blah blah and I’m sure I’ll eventually buy one so
why sweat the details?
JEN: The PS3 sounds like an impressive system, but most of what
I know about it you can see on G4. Judgment Day did a much better
job of getting the dirt on this project than I ever could. It looks
like a Foreman grill, will be 100% backwards compatible (cause those
crazy guys at Sony are just so darn smart!) and has a controller
that resembles a boomerang. Perhaps they need to license a Zelda
for this console.
RAY: You mean, you weren’t
a committed-enough journalist to stand in line for four hours to
get an additional shallow peek
at the PS3?
JEN: Neither were you.
RAY: We’re not talking about me. Let’s
talk about Nintendo.
JEN: Speaking of Nintendo,
one wonders if the introduction of the Revolution wasn’t just a ploy to get in on the next-gen action
at E3. We saw a console only, no controller, and no games! Nintendo
promised that you will be able to play ALL NINTENDO GAMES EVER MADE
on this system, with the ability to play Cube games from their original
discs and the classic titles by downloading them through the Revolution’s
new online mode. Yes! Nintendo has finally gone on-line! But why
should I have to pay for a download of Mega Man 2 when I already
own the cartridge? Something just feels wrong here.
RAY:
One point in that last paragraph deserves being said a second
time: Nintendo’s
Revolution will evidently have an online capability that will make
it possible to download and play any Nintendo console
game ever released. You read that right, sports fans. Considering
all the legendary titles on the NES, SNES and N64, I think this feature
will really help sell the new console. It sure will to me!
Other
than GEIST, a game that seems to have the same idea that Shiny’s Messiah did a few years ago, but might actually get
it right this time, and a GC installment of the much-beloved Fire
Emblem series (due in October!!!) there wasn’t much love for
the GameCube on the floor.
No, most
of the Nintendo space was dedicated to the three GameBoy systems.
Yep, three. There
was the GameBoy SP, of course (with yet
another Fire Emblem game!), the GameBoy DS, and the very silly new
GameBoy Micro – the system for people who find the GameBoy
just too big to lug around, and who find the GameBoy screen just
too annoyingly huge.
There were TONS of DS games on display, but I only had eyes for
one: Nintendogs.
JEN: For the sickeningly sweet factor, I award Nintendogs with
the trophy. An updated version of the Tamagotchi idea, this game
gives you the chore of picking a puppy and keeping up with his needs.
This booth was flooded at the Nintendo DS area of the convention.
We all thought this was because the games was so darn cute, which
it is. I found out later it was because the booth babes were giving
out free styluses for the DS with Mario on top. And if you successfully
taught your puppy a trick, you received a free toy puppy. Oh, what
we do for free stuff.
RAY: You get to raise,
train, walk and pet painfully cute pooches! What else would you
need to know? This is the game that will sell
the DS. It’s going to be HUGE.
A Promising Hybrid: Indigo Prophecy
RAY:
I was a big fan of 1999’s Omikron: The Nomad Soul. It
was a flawed but very interesting hybrid that combined elements of
adventure, fighting, role-playing, and action into a very entertaining
whole.
Quantic Dream, the studio behind Omikron, has a new upcoming game
called Indigo Prophecy (formerly Fahrenheit). This new game also
looks like a very interesting hybrid.
The game
is billed as a “paranormal thriller adventure game” in
which you control four characters in a gritty, futuristic story of
crime and mind control.
The fighting
elements in the game are driven by a version of “Simon,” which
makes them feel more puzzle-like and less twitchy. Another gameplay
element is “mental health” which is a meter that can
go up or down, depending on what’s happening to the character.
Higher mental health will provide the player with more choices in
gameplay.
The musical
score is by Angelo Badalamenti, the quirky genius behind the cool “Twin Peaks” music.
The game
will be released on PC, XBox and PS2, and it’s one
of the most compelling titles we saw at E3.
