Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Battle of the Game Developers - E3 Special

Nintendo Wii arbitrary letter here...
http://blog.games.yahoo.com/blog/750-nintendo-debuts-wii-u

Ok guys, E3 is back again with all new gamer drooling content.  And I am here to start it off with what I consider, something not that great to look forward to.

Next generation Nintendo gaming comes to you in the form of the Wii U.  The letter thing is really getting old.  But that doesn't mean the technology isn't to want.  Is it?

Taking a look at this article, and many others floating around the web, the Nintendo Wii U is again reinventing the wheel for controlling your pixilated plot carrier.  The control now consists of a touch screen with built in controls all around the screen.  The article talks about how innovative this is as though it has never happened before.  *Cough* hand helds *cough*  The example given is "Johnny won't need to turn off his Super Mario Bros. outing so that dad can watch the Cowboys game," referring to the game being able to seamlessly move from TV to controller screen.  Well then why not just make "Johnny" play his handheld?  Or just make the consol itself a hand held?  Ok ok, I'm being a little tough.  I can see the benefits of this example.  And with the control being able to directly interact with action on screen, acting as a separate addition to control, it does seem quite interesting.  But I'm not sure I can consider this extremely advanced and outgoing. 

The cheap Ipad wanna-be will be able to browse the web, utilize HD technology to keep up with the other two "big boys," and enable picture and voice chat with a built in microphone and camera.  I think without the games, this would make for an awesome home phone/conference system.  Getting closer to those quirky anime video phone stereotypes!  Yea!

I got to be honest, though.  This looks about as interesting as the dozens of German E. Coli articles floating around the web.  Even though I can see this device being quite helpful in business, or even schooling, I'm thinking Nintendo is just getting side tracked here.  Good thing they have the 3DS.

PS "LIFE"...
http://blog.games.yahoo.com/blog/747-rejuvenated-sony-shows-off-games-lineup-prices-ps-vita-under-250

Mentioning the 3DS for Nintendo reminds my of my old PSP.  Ah, how it collected dust in the corner of my gaming cabinet due to the lack of truly immersive content, and down right confusing controls for many games.  But I still loved the multiplayer abilities and the other 2 people I found hard core enough to bother with it.  But that seems to be a thing of the past.

PS Vita is now the only thing I have on my Christmas list.  Well... next to the black Ferrari Testarossa and a date with Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  But my dreams seem that much closer with a price tag of only $300 for the 3G-capable version.  The cheaper of the two models is $250 and the basic difference just gets you WiFi.  The awesomeness, however, only gets better. 

From here you get a range from touch screen/device capabilities, TWO analog sticks (thank you for not hiring a retarded game designer who has't picked up a game controller since 1994), OLED screen, built in GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, motion sensing, 4 core processor chip, dedicated graphics processing unit, two built in cameras for picture capability, a microphone, NVG Cards instead of UMD's, and a handful of highly anticipated launch titles.  Excuse me while I catch my breath.

...  Did I mention it looks sexy?

Ok, so not much else has really been revealed about this new portable device.  And like the 3DS I imagine two cameras would be used for 3D picture taking, however, nobody has said anything about that yet.  At least from the articles I read during time of post.  And with internet access and a microphone I imagine this could easily be a (video) phone.  I really hope that service plans come out for the new system and will include unlimited talk and text so I don't have to stay with my phone company any longer.  Oh, let the dreaming commence.

As for what Microsoft is up to, who knows.  I was too busy replaying the Halo 4 hype video for the 92nd time. 

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