Overly Positive

Thanks to Kelly of Unenlightened English (go there now to get rid of those “l33t word tendenciez” you have in your writing) for the link to today’s Penny Arcade comic about E3 2009, which provides me with a good jumping off point for today’s awesomely positive pick-me-up for all you geeky cynics out there.

It’s no surprise that the big 3 developers all had some “mea culpa” to own up to with regards to their presentations last year. While to be sure you had some groan-inducing moments from this year’s offerings, you can’t help but be glad that everyone managed to come back at us with something that was an improvement. Let’s take a look at how the big boys took it a step up:

Microsoft was criticized last year for a completely unnecessary portion of their presentation where they had a random C-list pop star no one had heard of, and a “You’re in the Movies” segment that appealed to perhaps people that had not hit puberty or were beyond menopause, with no inbetween love to be seen.

This year, the media offerings were kept brief, and they were presented by a familiar face to many love-struck male geeks out there, Felicia Day. Aside from that, Microsoft eschewed trailers for actual gameplay, which was a great boon to those hungry for details and not for CGI. Microsoft also built on a discovered strength of their presentations, yoinking the carpet out from under its competition. With the first gameplay of Final Fantasy XIII and Hideo Kojima coming out for them first to talk about his new projects, not to mention all of Project Natal, Microsoft thumbed their noses at the competition in the most classiest way possible (although I bet even if it was wrong, you laughed at the “this isn’t some pre-programmed waggle controls” comment).

Sony anchored last year’s E3 with a performance that could only be described as a near-beggar’s plea. Reeling from Microsoft’s coup of Final Fantasy to the XBox, Sony could only offer a teaser for God of War III, a mild hardware presentation with a price point on a new PS3 model with no backwards compatibility, and no actual displays of exclusives which pushed the hardware. 

Sony’s last man out performance this year was a huge improvement. Not only was there a trailer for God of War III, it had in-game footage, and stabbing a chimera with its own horn never looked so cool. There was Uncharted 2 as well, and a live demo of MAG, teased last year but shown this year in all its 256-player glory. Sony’s counterargument was “we can deliver the future of games now”, and they did that in spades, showing off things with the hardware the other systems could only dream of achieving. Speaking of hardware, as opposed to last year’s “we have more bundles” yawner, we got great (and badly kept secret) news about the PSP – Hannah Montana bundles were coming. Oh, and they have a brand new model that is smaller, sleeker, has more space, has more features, and will be getting huge franchises (GT and MGS) to boost its appeal. 

Nintendo probably had the absolute most ragged-on E3 presentation ever coming out of last year. From unnecessarily peppy and irrelevant Cammie Dunaway’s mood in the presentation, to Reggie Fils-Aime’s arrogantly presented sales charts and numbers, the response to critics appeared to be “the sales show we’re doing something right, screw you core gamers”. The worst of the criticism came from the end, an awful “last but not least” presentation of Wii Music, featuring a drummer with a fake name who couldn’t drum and a Miyamoto-led band that stumbled through campy waggle-playing of the Mario tune.

That being said, Nintendo could have gone nowhere but up, and go up they did. You notice that the stats were kept simple, and a new, “just the facts, ma’am”, “serious business” Cammie Dunaway came out swinging (maybe she read all the feedback she got last year just before walking out, just to fire herself up).  Though still sticking to their guns about their direction towards casual gamers, they weren’t nearly as condescending about it as last year. And as for core gamers? Well, who better to trot out to give them some love than the iconic Mario, who is now coming to not one, not two, but three new games for the Wii and DS. Wii Sports Resort was relegated to the middle of the pack to help pace things, the Wii Vitality Sensor oddity was kept brief, and the anchor of the presentation was miles better than last year. Ending your presentation via a surprise collaboration with a proven success (in Team Ninja) on one of your most storied and loved core franchises (Metroid)? Well played, Nintendo, well played.

So no matter what negative press you see about this year’s pressers, there’s always a silver lining, and looking back at last year’s offerings, let’s be honest – it could have been just as bad, if not worse. Count your E3 blessings.

For all the dirty details, you can certainly drop off to our posts on Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, with all the half-glass full commentary on the upcoming gaming goodness for the next year.