E3 – Unmitigated Awesomeness

The lowdown:

Sony's Press Conference:

Watched this one live on Gamespot…and was totally unimpressed. Save for the FFXIII and MGS4 trailers. Peep the MGS4 trailer below, and check GameVideos.com for FFXIII.

FFXII got datedish (October), Heavenly Sword looks badass (like God of War, but with a hot chick), the PS3 controller looks the same as the PS2's…but it has motion sensing. Way to steal Sony! That's it. Really. Oh, PS3 launches November 17, 2006 here and over the pond, November 11 in Japan. Price? $499 for 20 gig hard drive, no HDMI, no Memory Stick or SD card slot, no WiFi (meaning no PSP conectivity). $599 for all the above missing stuff and a 60 gig (I think) HDD.

Nintendo's Press Conference:

Wii=uber fun. Managed to watch this one too, despite the earliness (11:00 AM here…the world doesn't exsist before noon. Wait, it does? I need to talk to Haruhi to change that. Oh, right, the conference.). Miyamoto-san came on stage at the beginning and conducted a virtual orchestra to play the Zelda theme with the wiimote. No date, but it will be cheaper than the competition and be out Q4 2006. Zelda: Twilight Princess at lauch, both GC and Wii versions. Wii control looks killer awesome. Metroid Prime 3: Contamination (I think that's what it was), Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports (a collection of sports minigames), Warioware (not actually announced at the conference, but there was footage from it and Time said they played with it), ExciteTruck, the standard EA fare, Red Steel, even more that I forgot. All look like fun. Some bastard that won that AOL contest got to play tennis with Miyamoto-san against Iwata-san and Reggie in a doubles match, random bastard guy spikes the ball to Reggie and wins. I want a Wii now…the PS3 can wait till MGS4 and FFXIII come out.

Microsoft's Press Conference:

Unfortunately, Microsoft was being retarded and didn't allow live streaming, although GameSpot will have a free taped stream up at 2:30PM PST (4:30 here). There was only one thing I, and everyone else, was waiting for. And it was there. Win. It's purdy. Real purdy. Find it on XBL if you've got a 360, or go here (Note: the Quicktime High-Res is MUCH better, so get that one.) to DL it. Don't know what I'm talking about? Then you loose. Or not.

Image shamlessly stolen from bungie.net

He's back bitch! Notice the tan armour. Notice the old-school assult rifle. Notice the reflection in his visor. Notice that THIS IS FUCKING REAL-TIME! Notice that it's out in 2007, and that I'm already putting away for the special edition. Download the trailer. Do it. DO IT.