E3 Console Wars
This year's E3 was dominated by the media madness surrounding the initial launch of the three next generation consoles from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. The thirst of the games industry, and an extremely competitive mindshare game being played means that there is just as much non-information as there is information. Microsoft will be the first one out of the gate launching the Xbox 360 this holiday season. They had demo content running on the show floor – even though it was really running on the initial development kits. As usual, the leap in content was extremely underwhelming – making most folks call the Xbox 360 the Xbox 1 ½.
This caused Sony to accelerate the announcement of the PS3 – although they won't admit it. Sony had my favorite kind of next generation content at their press event – the famous pre-rendered demos that showcase “what the device will be capable of”. This is the kiss of death. If you look back at what these demos looked like for the first Xbox launch, you will note that the device never delivers on these promises. To be fair, the devices are probably capable of rendering such content, but the effort required to create such content makes it pretty much impossible from a cost perspective. In fact many game developers have commented that they have no idea how they could create such content for the PS3.
Finally, we have the next generation Nintendo console – the Revolution. This one had the least amount of information. We do know that it will be the lease powered of the three. And, we know that it will run the entire backlog of Nintendo console content – which means that it will be the first one I buy. It is also the one that is least likely to try to be your centralized media device (which Xbox 360 and PS3 are setting up to be) – which means it will have great game content.
Nintendo also showcased the GameBoy mini – which basically looks like a cell phone form factor that playes GameBoy games. Interesting, but I will pass.
Networking is definitely on the forefront of all the new game consoles. Each has announced some form of networking support. One of my other predictions appears to be playing out as well. Premier hosted networking services for online games. The Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution will have them, so it is likely that Sony will follow suit. Yahoo Games is talking about beefing up their service. And, a number of new companies are popping up to support such environments.
There is still lots of information we don't know about the new consoles – price points, actual launch dates, games available at launch, full backward compatibility stories, hard drive or none, ..... No doubt, all that info will follow over the next year.
That's it for now. Next up will be a look at interesting E3 booths.
Posted at 04:08PM Jun 02, 2005 by dtwilleager in General | Comments[0]
It's been a while
It has been a long time. Lot's of fun stuff happening. So, let's get back to blogging. Some quick tidbits and observations.
Star Wars Revenge of The Sith: I have opinions about the specifics of the film, but it is safe to say that it was a Star Wars fans delight. I am now going back and watching all the films and it is a blast seeing them all coming together. My one comment is that the Emperor is by far the most evil character in film. :^)
E3: I should probably do a more complete blog on this one, and I will, but here are some quick observations. First, games are getting real pretty. Just looking at the tech demos for next generation consoles is enough to make your jaw drop. There are various places to check out the videos from E3 – e3insider and gamespot are pretty good places. Next, if you don't like the current games being made, then you are unlikely to like what is coming out. The games industry is continually proving that it is very conservative. Nintendo appears to be the only big player that is continually taking risks on creating new types of games. I was most excited by the stuff they were showing in their booth. Finally, mobile games are here to stay. Instead of them being a sideshow, they are now center stage. Every major player now has a mobile section in their booth. More details on E3 later.
Disney: I am a theme park junkie, especially Disney theme parks. They have just launched the 50th aniversary celebration for disneyland, and it looks really good. I will step out of character soon and do a blog just on this topic.
Work: Finally for today, I am expanding my responsibilities at Sun, and will elaborate on that in the near future as well.
Phew – it's good to be back blogging.
PS - I got a speeding ticket today - That Sucks.
Posted at 03:48PM Jun 01, 2005 by dtwilleager in General | Comments[0]