Other notable items include a partnership with NCSoft, which could very well bring big rewards down the road. Kojima also professed Metal Gear Solid 4 exclusivity for the PS3, almost as if he had to. But did anyone believe him? That is one of those "it's not going to happen until it happens" announcements (see: Virtua Fighter 5 on Xbox 360; Virtua Fighter 5 Xbox Live play).
So who "won" the show this year? Gamers did, of course! (Okay, I know that was bad.)
Sony had the most to lose this year. Announcing the ludicrous price last year, coupled with hardly any reasons to own a PS3, you knew Sony would come out swinging this year.
Sony and Microsoft both have a lot to offer this holiday, but I am more impressed with Sony's offerings mainly due to the fact that their console is starving for software right now.
Sony's keynote impressed me the most; it was good to see them on point after last year's "massive damage." While Nintendo is reaching out to a new audience, it is quickly losing sight of their "other" audience. And that is the problem, the hardcore gamer has become the "other" demographic in Nintendo's grand scheme. That is unsettling to many people, myself included.
Microsoft showed that they are chugging along nicely, alarming failure rates and all, but right now I am more intrigued by the software coming out for the PS3 and PSP.
Article comments
1 - Rhett Mash
This was a good read. I concur with what you have to say about the conferences.
Considering where SONY are, they put up a good show bombarding us with games and good ones that too. My only gripe about their conference was that they used phrases like "coming out this _fiscal_ year" and "will release exclusive to the PS3" to skew the crowd into thinking the games would be hitting the shelves by this holiday and they would be exclusive to the PS3.
Nintendo tried desperately to show that they still have the gamers in mind and the third party support, but for the most the message they sent was that they loved the success of Brain Age and want to focus in that market.
Microsoft had the stuff, but sadly did not use it effectively to impress the audience. Yes, we get it that these games will be out by this holiday and the 360 is _the_ platform for maximizing your games choice, but we knew that already. I was frankly expecting more news like Resident Evil. Considering the position they are in, I thought it should be easier for them to break some of the exclusives *cough* FF13, MGS5 *cough*...
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