E3 2009 – Who “won” the press conferences?

“Rockstar North’s Agent as an “exclusive” (we’re assured it isn’t).”

Wait, what? That’s the first I’ve heard. You can’t leave it at that!

Nice write-up, Pat (mine’s here, plug plug). I’d have put Microsoft and Sony neck and neck, tbh – Sony’s first-party line-up was a lot more well-rounded than Microsoft’s even if their show lacked the some of the ‘boom’ that Microsoft’s had.

And thanks and congrats to everyone at VG247 for keeping on top of things. I’ve been nowhere else for E3 news this year.

Good article. Sums it all up nicely.

IMO..

MS had the tech, Sony had the games.

Yes, Natal looked amazing but following the Tony Hawk statement but also the Kotaku ‘playthrough’ of Milo, where he said that someone was behind the scenes doing something to the build while he was ‘playing’ it, left question marks, how ‘scripted’ was it. Plus, I think you’re looking at about £100 quid for the thing?

While the Sony tech looked less amazing, the sword/shield stuff looked cool, real 1-1 motion capture but it was no Milo. But Sony had the exclusive games more-so than MS, I believe.

Still… 360 will still always be the place for any online cross-platform games as XBL is still infinitely better!

Nintendo, meh, I guess if you like that sort of thing it was OK. I bet the games they show all review well and I bet they have great gameplay.

Agree with that ! I would just have remove a point to Sony for the invisible price cut.

I’d say it was neck and neck with ms and sony.

“But Molyneux’s Milo was just amazing, and the demos worked properly.”

Says who ? I’ve not talked to anyone who’s tried it and thought it was anything but a well staged set-up…

If Sony’s had had more structure to it, instead of being a bit hap-hazard, it would have been better.

Would anyone actually want to play Milo on a regular basis? It’s very cool tech wise, but as a game? Something that would keep your interest for longer than 10 minutes?

Great write-up and what Blerk said regards the coverage. I’ve not been at work thanks to my newborn and thus I’ve had the choice of browsing anywhere but VG247′s provided the most constant, well-balanced coverage. Cheers guys – I’ll grab you a pint if you’re at the northern EG Expo

GT5 is certainty for Christmas IMO. My predicted schedule:

MAG = September
Uncharted 2 = October
GT5 = December
God Of War 3 = March
Heavy Rain = June

I’ll be astonished if Microsoft charge more than £40 for Natal, Newbie. They want people to actually buy it, after all.

If any games were out this year they’d've said it, with the exception of Uncharted 2. Which has has “Fall 2009″ written all over it for a while now.

LOL i guess MS succeeded with blinding people with their fake Natal / Milo crap. It will end up like Nintendo where its just used for casual gamers. MS even said it. Natal purpose is to make it easier for people to play games. Motion sensoring is not the future of games at all. If at all its a nice new gimmick but people will quickly get bored of it. My rating of the press conferences: Sony 9/10 because they show what matters the most: games, Nintendo 7/10 because 2 new Marion games and MS 5/10 because if you opening your show with RB Beatles and show a lot of multiplatform games then it was just an average show.

I think they’ll do GT5 for Christmas as well as Uncharted.

I though MAG was always 2010?

I think GT5 will be unveiled in full at Tokyo Game Show in late September…which is only a couple of weeks before Forza 3 comes out; what a perfect chance to take the shine of FM3 by showcasing GT5 and announcing a date.

Plus, TGS is Sony’s back yard…Kaz will be able to showcase it without a need for a translator. Look at the GT PSP unveil…it was pretty awkward with that very much real time translation…how would Kaz have show the hugely anticipated GT5 like that?

By December, the slim PS3 will be out, and Sony will (probably) be no longer be losing money on it.

Kaz has said in two interviews now that they’re ready to release GT5….unveil in late September, with a release in December, and people will be “agog”.

Well, if GT5 was this year, Sony had a perfect opportunity to announce it and drop probably the largest bombshell of E3. I’m sure Sony knows this, too, which is why I doubt it’s out this year.

@Blerk I know they want people to buy it but the way they portrayed it was that it was 360 1.5.I.e. the extension to the xbox for a few more years. Plus the tech looks quite expensive IMO. £99 would be my guess but I hope its £40. I think that’s why they didn’t mention anything about price in any of the interviews/demos…

“Kaz has said in two interviews now that they’re ready to release GT5….unveil in late September, with a release in December, and people will be “agog”.”

None that I’ve read. Got a link where he says it’s out this year? That’s massive news.

def sony for me

The tech’s not exactly rocket science, Newbie – two cameras and a microphone.

And infrared sensors, Blerk.

@Blerk: Two cameras (One RGB, one Monochrome CMOS), an infra red projector and an array of microphones. But you’re basically right.

Oh, and my prediction is that Sony will release GT5 with the PS3 slim in December.

Good summary – agree 100%

Have you misquoted Mike…Kaz doesn’t specifically say it’s out this year, but what he does say in the interview with Eurogamer, and one with OPM (it’s on Edge) – he says GT5 it a stage where it can be released….in the Eurogamer one he says he wants to release it “as fast as possible.”

In Autoweek: “AW: When is Gran Turismo 5 coming?

KY: [...]We will give the release date of the Gran Turismo 5 soon.”

autoweek.com/article/20090603/CARNEWS/906039991

“Soon” surely means TGS. It’s the only place big enough to announce a date.

Sony’s PR press release says games coming “this year” include GT5, and an SCEC (Canada) Matt someone or other said they’re looking at a holiday release for GT5. Remember at GDC, John Koller said (as reported by this very site) that releasing GT5 is case of when it “makes the most sense”.

By December the slim PS3 will be out and Sony will be able to profit from it, rather than a loss. Sony know GT5 is by far and away their most important IP; Uncharted 2 isn’t big enough to carry the PS torch, and a 2010 GT5 release would absolutely be out of control.

I’m calling it now; GT5 release…December 1st.

Given the price MS charge for standard tech like hard drives and wifi adaptors, I’m not expecting Natal to be cheap. Fortunately, I don’t give a shit about any sort of novelty controller so I won’t be buying any of them anyway. Woo!

Razor, Mike NEVER misquotes. Absolutely not. Nu-uh.

I’d bet Microsoft could sell Natal at a loss to improve market penetration, especially if it arrives later than Sony’s controller.

One question though, does Sony’s offering *require* the presence of the camera as well? Because in that case, I guess, it would be more expensive than Microsoft’s.

“I’d bet Microsoft could sell Natal at a loss to improve market penetration, especially if it arrives later than Sony’s controller.”

Yeah, unlike the hard drive / wifi adaptor the Natal tech will be specifically aimed at getting people to buy the console, rather than ripping them off after they’ve already got it.

“The motion tech was next. This was not pretty. The two guys doing the demo couldn’t get it working properly at first, and compared to the promise of Natal it looks distinctly “old”. Time will tell.”

Euh, I thought it was at least more precise and practical than MS’s and Ninty’s solutions. For a tech demo the Sony sticks got a shaky start (the guy talking was crying at first, he clearly wasn’t used to the crowd :p ) but they won everyone over near the end as it was accurate and no-nonsense/no-Molyneux stuff, and they applied the tech to concepts hardcore gamers want to see in games. The Milo demo made us dream but that dream quickly became shattered after the hands-on reports which said that the boy doesn’t always answer correctly when it’s not staged/acted right. The tech itself sounds like it has potential but I wanted it to be shown from a more hardcore perspective and that just wasn’t the case at all.

From a true PC fanboy’s point of view I am a lot more interested in the PS3 than the Xbox360 right now, not just for the peripherals but for the games as well. There is too much overlapse with MS’s lineup and I also hate them fervently. No celebs at Sony’s presentation was ace as well, why the hell should you need Spielberg telling us we should get excited about these things?

“What’s the must-have Christmas game for PS3? Uncharted? MAG? Against Left 4 Dead 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Forza 3 and Halo: ODST?”

This is huge true. QFTT

“PS3 sales are going to start picking up with all of the E3 exclusives coming out, so they’ll keep things as is for now.”

That’s not going to make the slightest dent until they drop the price or release the slim. They’ve predicted 13m consoles sold this year… and it’s going to take more than good games to get that done.

Yeah, I had them all down at the same scores as above.

Sony did really well, and I must be the only person thinking that their motion control presentation showed loads of potential. MS had one of the best E3 presentaions I’ve ever seen, so they ‘won’ for me, but the only thing that would have given them a 10 for me was if they’d have come out with some new hardware, like a 360 portable or something. Other than that, they offered loads of new things and loads to get excited about. Especially Natal.

The only thing that I took from the Nintyendo one, was that I really want NSMB Wii.

In the end, I think what was shown overall was good for the industry and things seem to be getting better for gamers in general.

Sony: I have never been so bored watching a conference that had so many good games (probably the best line-up of the Big Three). The presentation was awful, Tretton’s delivery was an embarrassment.

“but they won everyone over near the end as it was accurate and no-nonsense/no-Molyneux stuff, and they applied the tech to concepts hardcore gamers want to see in games.”

I’m not so sure…

It showed a lot of promise, but I wouldn’t say ‘won over’. I’ve been waiting for a new and better way to control console FPS’s for ages, but what they showed still looked somewhat crude.

When they went to FPS mode everything seemed to be a bit shaky and inaccurate.

It could just be that the guy was so nervous that he was shaking like a leaf, but until I see someone using one of these things for an FPS with the profficiency of a good player with a pad, let alone a mouse, I’ll remain unconviced.

i must admitt that the micosoft conference was good, but sony had the games which microsft needed

9/10 because they have guest and 40 mins of third party…and game from 2005, for me MS was boring!

@G1GAHURTZ
“I must be the only person thinking that their motion control presentation showed loads of potential.”

I did too. The Natal stuff is very clever tech, but they are clearly going for casuals. I didn’t see a thing demo’ed I’d actually like to try. The Wandildo(tm) demo was genuine and the two guys demoed practical stuff I’d like to play in a game context.

If I gaze into my crystal ball….

I can see Uncharted2 in the mist, followed by September…. September 24th, or is that 25th ?!

What Microsoft showed was an upgraded Eyetoy. Beyond Peter Molyneux’s intriguing contribution, Microsoft showed its own version of existing tech, and indiscriminately throwing paint about. It looked imprecise and crude.
Sony, on the other hand, showed in-game applications (as tech demos, but that was real time interacting) and, they stressed and demonstrated the subtlety of motion, and degree of flexibility in what could be done.

Sony says that FFXIV is exclusive but still there’s doubt?
Square said it was investigating other platforms, including Microsoft’s = future port (didn’t happen for PS3 with XI, despite S-E stating on the official page of XIV, that there was lots of interest…); and I wouldn’t put any weight on anything Microsoft has to say on the matter, because it’s in their highest interest to undermine and downplay, and cast doubt on Sony’s announcement – they bring proof, and it’s a different matter, but atm, I see no reason to believe that it is not exclusive.
There’s also the fact to consider that there’s already a date set for next year, worldwide release, across PC and PS3.

Why would GoW III slip? Why would they get up on stage, announce a specific time like that (that they know they’ll be picked up on if it misses) this far out – that’s nine months they have, to deliver the finished product – if it were likely to miss that release month?

Not even Microsoft has entered any argument as to the legitimacy of Agent’s exclusivity, so, it’s puzzling why you would, pat? :/

Agree with the article completely, and regarding this holidays line up MS have said that not all of their first party holiday releases have even been announced yet so even if Sony pull out GT5 at TGS then MS is likely to announce at least 1 first party game for the holiday season and so it will still be like Uncharted and GT5 up against Splinter Cell, L4D2, ODST, Forza 3 and another first party title

Oh, c’mon SplatteredHouse. It’s not THAT puzzling.

It is helpful though, to be able to see the most complete picture of events, and this is an opinion piece. I’m not criticising, just, as I said, a little surprised.

@Shatner: True. Thinking on it another way, it really isn’t too puzzling, after all.

So Agent isn’t exclusive? Wow.

Agent is exclusive. No question of it.

I think as with others such as FFXIV it will likely be a timed exclusive.

I agree with the order. I had Microsoft ahead on away goals. Largely because as you’ve pointed out, Sony showed nothing that’s going to dramatically change their fortunes in any markets in 2009 and Microsoft showed they had enough to get by.

Then in 2010 cheaper slimmer PS3 with fantastic games walks into still much cheaper 360 possibly slimmed down itself with equally fantastic games except one of them is Halo and the Natal stuff which their competitors can’t replicate.

If it works even half as well as advertised then your generation pecking order is done. 10 year cycle or not.

You can’t just casually drop in a bombshell like “Agent isn’t actually an exclusive” without backing that up somewhat. It’s clearly been announced as such, there’s been no challenge by either MS or Rockstar that this isn’t the case, so you’ll need to offer a little more than “our sources which can’t be named” this time out.

@Psycho: Let’s put money on it.

Stop shit-stirring, Agent is a 100% completely watertight sorted exclusive.

@Mike: What, after you chickened out of the the other bet?

But sure, the bet is that there wont be a 360 version out within one year of the PS3 version of Agent being released.