Smackdown: Yahoo says Sony won E3.

[BladeofTheImmortal]

Console wars heat up for 2008: Sony impresses, Microsoft surprises, Nintendo disappoints

by Mike Smith

In the two days leading up to the year's biggest video games trade show, E3, it's become something of a tradition that the competing console manufacturers face off in a series of lavish press conferences. Now that 2008's round of announcements, demonstrations, trailers, and posturing are over, which console came out on top?

Despite rumors of price cuts, Microsoft opted to expand the hard drive of its mid-range offering instead of delivering any real savings to consumers. All the same, the 360's Dashboard interface is undergoing a serious overhaul this year, and looks to be coming out cleaner, with more downloadable games, and including custom avatars that are, not to mince words, a complete rip-off of Nintendo's Miis. ("Where else could you get an avatar creation system but on Xbox Live?" one developer commented. We have no idea.) On-demand movie and TV programming courtesy of Netflix will expand the 360's already bulging video abilities, and a new motion-sensing microphone controller will deliver new horrors to the terrifying world of karaoke games.

Sony put together a similar performance, shuffling its PS3 package offerings to little real effect (although you might pick up a bargain as retailers clear stock of the older lines). It's also expanding its video offerings by offering online movie rentals from an impressive portfolio of studios -- and you can take them on the road on your PSP, too. Unlike Microsoft's offerings, which have a vague "fall" ETA, Sony's new online features should be available by the time you read this.

That wasn't all, though. Sony's press conference rolled out a set of game trailers that had fans cheering: a new God of War game on PS3, a vast-looking massive action game named MAG, and a couple of promising superhero games: one massively-multiplayer title based on the DC superhero universe, and one futuristic, open-city game from the Sly Cooper studio. It's a great selection, and one that leaves Microsoft's roster of Gears of War 2 and Fable II looking a little tired.

Mind you, that wasn't the end of the software story. Although the Sony execs weren't visibly injured, Microsoft's press conference delivered them a metaphorical punch to the gut: the absolutely huge Final Fantasy series is no longer a PlayStation exclusive. Final Fantasy XIII will be coming to the 360, and unless you count the oddball, massively-multiplayer XI (we don't) it's the first time any of the modern Final Fantasy games have gone cross-platform. If nothing else dropped jaws at the Microsoft do, this announcement sure did.

In contrast, it was hard to dodge the grumbling on the way out of the Nintendo event. Where were the classic franchises we all know and love? Where, for that matter, was Mario? Nintendo fans had to make do with a new Animal Crossing title, and an oh-so-vague mention of a Grand Theft Auto game on the DS handheld. Accessories like the MotionPlus controller plug-in and the WiiSpeak microphone (pictured below) are all very well, but don't we have enough bits of plastic cluttering up our houses already?


Which, naturally, is Nintendo's modus operandi since the release of the Wii. For every disgruntled Nintendo hardcore fan, there's a whole houseful of delighted non-gamers enthused at the thought of getting together to play music without needing a bunch of instruments or, you know, any skill. But can Nintendo really deliver a music game experience that's as compelling as Rock Band?

Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, this year's E3, so far, belongs to Sony -- and if you're still on the fence about which new system you're going to spring for, your decision just got a whole lot tougher.

So there you have it.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/e...-blogs/1227326

[chaz]

They were really pissed about that takeover bid!

[WallyWest]

This guy makes no sense. You can't say that one console maker one then end your story with:

and if you're still on the fence about which new system you're going to spring for, your decision just got a whole lot tougher.

How can it be tougher if one console won?

[BladeofTheImmortal]

Maybe because he's thinking that everyone thought the PS3 was shit and that now because it "won" it'll be harder for epople to decide.

[Detroit Tigers Fan]

Looks like that same blogger, Mike Smith is "sold" on the xbox 360 though.

Today's Microsoft press conference held one big piece of news for 360-owning movie fans: a new partnership between the software giant and the pioneer of online movie rental, Netflix, will link the console to Netflix's streaming movie service.

You'll need both an Xbox Live Gold account and a Netflix subscription to join in the fun, but assuming you don't mind shelling out for those, you'll have instant access to over 10,000 streaming movies and TV shows. Microsoft tells us they should start streaming within 30 seconds of being selected, so lucky subscribers won't have long to wait. Previously, the only way to enjoy Netflix's streaming service on your TV was either to hook it to a PC, or to pay extra for a $100 set-top-box.

As if that wasn't enough, you can also get together with groups of Xbox Live buddies to watch the same movies simultaneously. The prospects for heckling, arguing over bathroom breaks, and movie-inspired drinking games are nothing if not impressive. Plus there won't be anyone around to steal your chips. Sold.

That wasn't the only news to come out of the press conference, of course, and here's a round-up of the day's other announcements:

Final Fantasy XIII will come out on the Xbox 360
Gears of War 2 hits the mean streets on November 7
Resident Evil 5 will feature online co-operative play; launches March 13
Fable II will be out in October
Xbox Live is getting a cleaner facelift, and Mii-like avatar characters
You'll be able to install Xbox 360 games to the console's hard drive, cutting load times
Rock Band 2 will include AC/DC's "epic rock anthem" Let There Be Rock, and Bob Dylan's Tangled Up In Blue
Xbox Live will gain a new service called Primetime, "the world's biggest virtual game show stage". First out of the gate is a quiz show called "1 vs. 100", which pits one lucky Xbox Live player against 100 others.
The 360 will get a motion-sensitive microphone controller, and a karaoke game ("Lips") to go with it
New game "You're In The Movies" promises to -- well, put you in the movies, courtesy of an included video camera and a set of comic backgrounds

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/e...logs/1227326/5

[Coren]

Originally Posted by Detroit Tigers Fan

Looks like that same blogger, Mike Smith is "sold" on the xbox 360 though.

(Or more likely has a 360 and is sold on the Netflix thing...seeing as that's what he was referring to when he said "sold". )

[Gutter21]

M$ won E3 Because of announcement. IMO

[ArronC07]

Edge Online (formally NextGen.Biz) also give the crown to Sony.

[Treadstone]

If you read his article he mainly talks about microsofts announcments, and even said the biggest announcement was final fantasy on X360. So its weird to me, to see at the end he says Sony won it. It's like his entire article doesn't matter.

[Coren]

Originally Posted by Treadstone

If you read his article he mainly talks about microsofts announcments

Eh, just went back to read to check that out, and it looks like to me he spends a bit more time on Sony's part, then goes on to say their stuff makes Gears and Fable 2 info look tired, before mentioning the FF announcement.

(Paragraph of MS stuff. 2 paragraphs of Sony stuff, then paragraph about FF.)

So I don't agree entirely with him (I think from the conferences MS and Sony were pretty much a tie), but he made a good case for his opinion.

[TheLastGenius]

Originally Posted by chaz

They were really pissed about that takeover bid!

Wow, lol. Ok that WAS a good quip, I have to admit. With that said Sony really did have the best showing, they just didn't have the "biggest shock" announcement. Nothing new on the 360 except stolen ideas and franchises!

[viewsonic]

Sony clearly won. The announcement of half of FFXIII coming to the 360 in 2 regions is about as big as Bioshock 2 being released on the PS3.

[SBrooks1]

There's no way in hell Sony won. They didn't show anything we didn't expect. The only cool thing they had was the video store being announced and live last night. Aside from that nothing impressed me that much. Microsoft easily "won" this year with the FFXIII announcement alone. No other announcement at E3 generated as much press as that did. That was truly a megaton for the ages. Sony had what? MAG? With no gameplay footage at all. Might as well be vaporware.

[Dennis M.]

Originally Posted by playmystation

Sony has way too many first party studios churning out games...also, am I the only one excited by Resistance on the PSP?

Yes
It looks good though, I think the PSP got a new lease of life in the West yesterday as its release schedule looked truly empty before. Resistance is made by Sony Bend (makers of the excellent Syphon Filter PSP games) so it should be great.
I was more intrigued by Super Stardust PSP at first but then I remembered it is a twin stick shooter, duh. I wonder how that 'll work on the PSP but it doesn't sound good.
But the best feature IMO is the new video store and its interoperability with the PSP. I hope Sony doesn't take too long to open the European video-store.

Sony's press conference would have been much more impressive if they had shown the new KZ2 footage but understandably they didn't want to overshadow Resistance 2.

[AnimalMother]

Edge says Sony won too.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...w-e3-big-three