Originally Posted by Solace
I was really underwhelmed, honestly. I expected a lot of details to be revealed at E3, or at least closer to launch, but this was like watching Nintendo's Wii U reveals. Just not much to go on, except that Sony basically said "we're going to do everything they did, but more of it, and better!" But I don't feel they've done a good job of that.
Sure, sharing videos is nice, I guess. Miiverse is great though, and is only getting better. And PC is far superior, with years of support for this concept.
Gakai streaming is nice, but I doubt we'll see full library support. And I expect MS to stumble here as well. I worry about those PSN and Live purchases people have made. Nintendo remains quite strong with their BC, but all three really lack the ability to run old software like PC's can.
The controller was meh. It suits those who want evolution, perhaps, but it feels "me too" in the face of Nintendo. I generally tend to chuckle at this, because as much as people love to slam Nintendo for their hardware, their controller innovations end up adopted anyway.
The games were not impressive. Graphically, it's not that huge of a leap, but more worrisome is that Sony loves overselling and misleading about power. I saw nothing jaw dropping. Killzone looked impressive, but the AI, models, and animations were awful. It was also heavily scripted, meaning that the developers could use tricks to hide what they don't want you to see. And if anyone remembers the PS3 reveal, I have no faith that developers were running any of it on the system, even if they claim they are. By far the most interesting "game", was the sculpting tool with the Move controller. Now that was innovative, and will draw in a lot of players if marketed properly.
Put simply, most of the game reveals look like they were directed by JJ Abrams. Lens flare and bloom everywhere. If that's "next gen dynamic lighting", I'll pass.
While they mentioned you can play used games, and the system has a disk drive, they also have patented many ideas now that would restrict used games. Even the idea of downloading full games to "demo" them seems like a move to push away from used gaming. From a business standpoint, digital is the future. The problem is how much access they are willing to let you have....and what happens when you don't have internet or the service has interruptions.
And of course, the services. I expect MS to push this more, but really this is what it's really all about. They want an "everything box". I wonder if they're pushing themselves out of the market by doing this. If everything is eventually usable on any device, is there really any difference between Sony and a third party developer? I think people don't realize that the only reason the Apple ecosystem works is because of their proprietary hardware and software. It's why Android lags behind them even with its "open like a PC" design. Nintendo gets this. You don't buy one of their systems just for third parties anymore. You buy them because you love Nintendo hardware and their software ecosystem.
Ultimately my biggest worry is the third parties themselves. I'm starting to miss the era of Sega, quite frankly. Third parties have become bigger than the console makers themselves, and this hasn't been a good thing. With the larger companies spending the middle tier companies out of existence, the market has become stratified between "indie" and "Hollywood". If the other entertainment industries are any idea, this is not a good thing for the industry in the long term. Throwing big money around and chasing money down the drain is like Icarus chasing the sun. The end result is a few megapublishers dictating the market, and the breadth of games during the 80's, 90's, and early 2k's, will seem a distant memory going forward.
Drive Club for example, may be the developers vision for a detailed driving game, enthusiast style. But my thought wasn't about their vision for online challenge modes and super realistic engines I'll rarely see. It was "but is this game fun to play?"
Fun. That part of gaming that the western driven industry seems to forget in their equations. Once you get past the set pieces, grand music, and fancy graphics, how many games from western studios can you really say were fun and stuck with you? The glut of such games sitting on used shelves and Steam backlogs while "quirky Japanese" titles get harder to find and more expensive tells me we're in for a crash on at least one side of the pond.
Anyway, those are mostly my thoughts for now. I definitely think E3 is going to be amazing this year, and the second half of the year will be really exciting to watch as all of these competing visions clash.
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