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The great (and unofficial) E3 rant thread (1 Viewer)

Joe Szott

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Calling all fanboys and whoever else has something to say about E3 (other than news snippets.) Here's your chance to say anything and everything you like or dislike about this year's E3. Bash another system, tar and feather Rare's lineup, whatever you like let's get into it. If you read this thread, please expect some dirt to be flung. Then fling some yourself.

I'll kick it off with some questions:

Does it seem like Nintendo is going to be in trouble soon? Specifically, with Sony designing a new handheld, what market is left for Nintendo to dominate? Can Sony actually enter this space or will N just crush them with a GBA2 device? And is MS actually the big winner here? With both Sony and N dividing their attention between handheld and console market, is MS in the cat bird seat or out in the cold? After all, as the CIA says, "Let's you and him fight. I'll watch"

Why do Rare's games look to suck? And why is there no word behind a new Perfect Dark or such at this year's E3? C'mon Rare, show me a $300 million idea for a game (I'm not seeing it yet..)

And finally, if you aren't Valve, Bungie, or id, was it really worth showing up to E3 this year to showcase your FPS? Man, I'm going to be shooting aliens/demons in my sleep by this time next year. Talk about raising the bar, these guys are looking to toss it into the stratosphere.

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OK Mitch, unleash the fury!
 

Jeff Kleist

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No interest in the Rare titles

Does it seem like Nintendo is going to be in trouble soon? Specifically, with Sony designing a new handheld, what market is left for Nintendo to dominate?
Nintendo is toast by 2010. The new Sony handheld is a portable media center, and as long as it has a decent battery life and comes in under $150 it will crush GBA. With Sony Pictures and Sony Music libraries behind it, there will be a ton of movie and music content available for the machine.

Nintendo has dug their own grave "We realize that we need to have games that appeal to all tastes" and then they show the same old sh-t. It's too late to go begging to your third parties, you've locked them out of most original GBA titles with high royalties and manufacturing costs, and low sales/high royalites with NGC. Capcom says "We'll see" in regards to renewing their deal w/Nintendo. For those not aware, "we'll see" from a Japanese company is "no way". There's really not enough room for 3 in the industry. Of course, it will take Nintendo years to figure out they're dead, so I'm guessing somewhere between 2008 or 2010 they will go Sega.
 

John Kilroy

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I was disappointed in the offerings from Microsoft and Sony, but especially Microsoft (in the interest of full disclosure, I love my Xbox and I like my PS2). I was hoping for more surprises at the show. I guess that's getting hard to do in the age of the internet. Nonetheless, the E3 I would have enjoyed more would have had more announcements like these:

Microsoft buys Sega!
MEGATON FINALLY REVEALED!
RARE Reveals Stunning New Game For Xbox!
Halo 2 Set To Street in June!
Next Grand Theft Auto Installment to be Multi-Platform!
Sony, Microsoft slash console prices $100!
The Phantom to be Given Away Free with Two Games!

As it was, there were no earth-shakers.

Halo is going to be awesome - check.
Doom 3 is coming to Xbox - check.
GT4 looks beautiful and plays great - check.
There's gonna be a metric shitload of new (old) FPSs - check.
We're all pursuing the "digital entertainment convergence" utopia - check.

The only announcement that was mildly exciting for me was the future Xbox Live pricing. I'm glad that Microsoft is doing right by us for one more year at least.

Maybe I'm just getting old.
 

Morgan Jolley

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Nintendo:
I think they're not in as bad a situation as everyone thinks. We've still got SpaceWorld to look forward to, Metroid Prime 2, Mario Kart: Double Dash, F-Zero GX, StarFox, Rebel Strike, Twin Snakes, the Capcom 5, and a few other big games are coming out this year, and they still have Pokemon and the GBA to live off of. Is the GBA in trouble from Sony? Sure, but by the time the PSP comes out (a year and a half from now) Nintendo will either be making the next GB (which I'm sure will be comparable to the PSP) or will have their new console out (I read somewhere that they plan to have their next console out first) and then it won't matter all that much. Am I disappointed with the GameCube first-party titles? Of course I am, but the second party ones and the big exclusives still look pretty nice.

I also think Nintendo had the best group of people for their pre-show press conference.

Microsoft:
XBL is going to kick some serious ass, so long as they have enough great games for it. I don't have an X-Box, nor XBL, so I can't comment on how it is now, but I can honestly say that if I did, I'd only have about 3 games that are full multiplayer online games. Downloadable content is cool, but you can also get stuff like that through demo discs and its not really taking full advantage of the potential of XBL. Looking into the future, there are 3 MAJOR titles that are X-Box exclusive: Half-Life 2, Doom 3, and Halo 2. I am really excited about all 3 of those, and they're all looking amazing right now, even moreso if they use XBL (H2 will, HL2 might, and I doubt D3 will). And yeah, the Rare purchase was pointless, seeing as how they have yet to show anything really nice for the X-Box that I could care about.

Sony:
They didn't show off too much that interests me, but they're also getting just about every big third-party title that isn't also on PC, and even a good amount of those. FFXI next year with the HDD, the eyetoy this fall, more sequels in big game series, it's all there. They should try to push their online stuff more, but frankly, I don't think it'll matter much until the next generation of consoles. Sure, online is great, but will it be something the majority of consumers will demand as mandatory within the next 3 years? I don't think so.

General Stuff:
Where's TimeSplitters 3? Where's the next Frequency/Amplitude? Why no real info on Jak 2 and Ratchet & Clank 2? What about all those random titles that were announced right before E3? What about FF12? What about RE4? What about Mario 128 and the myriad of Mario titles that we all know exist? I'm a bit disappointed with E3 at this point, but we'll see when it's over.

I still think this year will be pretty good with games.
 

Romier S

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Does it seem like Nintendo is going to be in trouble soon? Specifically, with Sony designing a new handheld, what market is left for Nintendo to dominate?
No fanboy comments necessary on this on, Ill just give it to you straight;). I made my point pretty clear about Nintendo in the "cool E3" thread and as a Nintendo fan I'm nothing but disappointed with thier E3 line-up. Mario Kart , F-zero, Resident Evil 4, FF Chronicles and to a lesser extent Twin Snakes were good highlights (especially RE4 and MKDD). Besides that I was very underwhelmed. Microsoft and Sony however tore it up IMO this year. Choosing a winner between those two will be difficult.
 

Morgan Jolley

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It is my personal belief that folks would have thier mouths shut about Rare had they shown Perfect Dark Zero
PD0 would DEFINITELY have been a great thing for Rare to show off, but they didn't. If they had shown it off (and if it had looked good) then of course people would have kept their mouths shut about Rare. The fact of the matter is that they showed of Ghoulies and Conker. Of those, most people could only care about Conker, which is just a DX of the N64 game with more multiplayer modes (which weren't that great in the original).
 

BrianB

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PD0 would DEFINITELY have been a great thing for Rare to show off,
If it isn't visually & contentwise upto the standard of Halo2, HalfLife2 & Doom3, it would be getting slagged to bits by the fans & the press. I think Romier's on the money.
 

Joe Szott

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One thing I have to rant about (and maybe I just don't understand) is the next FF. So let me understand this: I have to buy a Sony HDD to play it ($$$ unknown - I'd guess $99), it won't work without it, and the PS2 version is arriving a few months after a PC version? This seems like a made to order recipe to: sell a bunch of PC versions and almost nil PS2, trash the somewhat shaky but great FF franchise, and really put Sony in a hole if it doesn't brin gin big numbers. Am I wrong about this, or is Square starting to lose it? Not like it is another $100 million movie that flops (I liked it ;)), but what are they thinking?

MS - XBL pricing is nice, but they are still somewhat unclear on what $50 a year buys you beyond a friends list and some lobbies. I would like to hear some hard numbers on dedicated servers and such for the existing games. Absolutely no reason in the world that MS doesn't have 50 dedicated RTCW servers over T1s servicing the major cities in America right now. Get with it MS, it's almost there -- just push it a little further...
 

Morgan Jolley

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This seems like a made to order recipe to: sell a bunch of PC versions and almost nil PS2, trash the somewhat shaky but great FF franchise, and really put Sony in a hole if it doesn't brin gin big numbers. Am I wrong about this, or is Square starting to lose it? Not like it is another $100 million movie that flops (I liked it ), but what are they thinking?
In Japan, they've actually gotten to the point where FFXI is turning into profit, not just revenue (they're making money over what they spent in development). Sure, it might not be too successful in America (you forgot to mention the monthly fee) but at least they're giving it a chance. What [I'm totally guessing] will most likely happen is that you'll be able to buy FFXI with the HDD for $100-$125 and get a month or so of free online play.
 

Peter Loan

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Amen, hear hear, affirmative...well you get the picture. Where can we rant to Microsoft about this?! I am getting so pissed off hopping from server to server looking for a playable game.
 

DaveGTP

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My rant would be for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Only Player 1 with a GC controller, multiplayer is ONLY with 3 GBAs?? I understand the benefits of having the GBA as a screen, but as a controller it sucks compared to a real controller.

Maybe kids can find two more friends with GBAs to play, but us adults will have a harder time. So much for my hopes for a new 3-D Secret of Mana type experience. This game has gone from "must-buy-right-away!!" to "PASS-until-it's-$10", unfortunately.

GBA connectivity is cool, but they shouldn't be used as controllers for multiplayer games. I have controllers already, my 4 GC controllers cost me about $100!
 

DaveGTP

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I just feel that the additional 3 GBAs should be optional, not required. The chance of me finding that many people w/ GBAs that also have time to come over is pretty much nil. I am probably not the only one.
 

Keith_R

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I wish there would be a tad more Halo 2 announcments. This is my most anticipated game and the 8 minute demo is not enough! I want more details about story, gameplay, and multiplayer (Live maybe). I too would like to hear more info from MS about future Live and dedicated servers. Dedicated servers is one of Live's biggest problems right now and it needs to be addressed.
 

Morgan Jolley

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I kind of agree with you on the GameCube/3 GBAs thing. It is a pain to get that much together, but there are several games for the GameCube that utilize multiple GBAs hooked up to the GameCube at once, so it looks like a new trend (in the "buy Nintendo and get more gameplay!" universe).

I think it's a good idea, but I'm not sure they should do this with key franchise games.
 

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