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The best E3 2004 article ever.
Saturday / 06.05.04 / 01:15AM / Joe
You have got to read Tim Rogers's writeup on this year's E3 over at Insert Credit.com. It exactly the kind of webloggy article I prefer to read about video games, because it's random and personal and interesting and catered towards fans. I mean, the dude refs Gyakuten Saiban 3 and doesn't even have to explain what it is. (A Japan-only GBA lawyer sim, ahem. That's right, I said "lawyer sim.") Most video game websites can boil down to "The graphics are superb and you can shoot lots of stuff." Because that's what most gamers want to hear, sadly. Tim's article goes beyond that, and offers the most detailed and genuine E3 account I've ever read.
I can't resist giving you some of my favorite quotes, but I really hope you go through the entire five page article.
on certain folks' reactions to the cel-shaded Wind Waker...
That game was snickered at because it looked like a cartoon, and the people snickering would rather be shooting life-like demons on some game on Xbox, because only games with life-like demons are cool with the ladies. The people snickering at the [Nintendo] DS promo video were snickering because it involved kids. They probably finished demoing the games and ran up to the press room, where they called the console "ANOTHER BABIES' TOY FROM NINTENDO TEH OMG" on their professional sites.
on the already-overplayed Nintendo DS vs. Sony PSP debate...
Some journalists commented on the [DS] not being as "sexy" as the PSP, and I groan to even recall this. Get over it, people. You want a pocketable device a woman's going to consider "sexy," get a goddamned vibrator.
on the N-Gage...
The worst problem with the Nokia N-Gage might be Nokia's president's own belief that it, really, doesn't suck. All the red lighting, free alcohol, and chatty booth girls in the world can't hide the look on one female executive's face when the president of the company says, in his thick accent, that the original N-Gage sold 600,000 units. He's lying to the press, and many of his subordinates know it.
on Nintendo's newfound propensity for giving mainstream gamers exactly what they've been begging for: more "adult" games and a realistic Zelda...
...and something else tells me to be afraid of Nintendo's gestures to make everyone happy. That something else may or may not be Metroid Prime: Hunters, where you fire when trying to turn around, and feel upset about it, even though firing isn't doing anything you're not going to do anyway. And it's not like the game counts your shots. This game feels, to me, like overreaction to criticism; only I can't tell what criticism that is.
on another article of his, an interview with MGS creator Hideo Kojima...
My first question to Hideo Kojima back during my historic February interview was simple: "Why does the President grab Raiden's crotch immediately after meeting him, in Metal Gear Solid 2?" Kojima's eyes widened at the question. "That's the best first question anyone's ever asked me."
on the usual uptight hack attendees with inflated egos...
I caught hear of one journalist complaining to another in the press room about all the "Fucking assholes" who had "snuck in." I won't say who this journalist was, because that'd look like libel or some shit. I'll just say that he said it. The people who had "snuck in," according to this guy, were clerks from such fine establishments as GameStop or Electronics Boutique, places that actually sell games to people, unlike his little pissy magazine, which just talks about them, and provides online arenas for children to call each other homosexuals for liking Wind Waker that way.
That is great stuff... great, smart stuff (even if he doesn't like Crystal Chronicles.) I enjoy reading nothing more than when the author can intelligently earn the label "smartass."
Now that the heat has cooled, I'm still very excited for the DS. It's mainly the wireless networking ability that I want to see, because I'm hoping that's the way the big brother console units go as well. I was finishing off Lupin the Third tonight (sigh), doing that PS2 controller lasso trick to keep the cord from knocking things off the coffee table, when it occurred to me that it won't be long before wired controllers will look ancient and low-tech. I have every hope that the DS (and the WaveBird before it) will be the harbinger of the next generation's wireless world.
I've already talked to guys at the office about how we can abuse the DS's wifi during work hours... and if the unit doesn't pull a Virtual Boy, it's possible my middle school-aged neighbor pal would get one... meaning there's lots of potential multiplayer interaction to come. And of course I already have an in-home wireless network, so jumping online with my DS will be just too easy.
This is all largely speculation. You never know when Nintendo is going to pull back and downsize the feature list... like when we found out that the upcoming GBA wireless peripheral will only work with games specifically designed for said peripheral, and not with any old game linkable game. Or the notion that you can't trade Advance Pokemon with Previous Version Pokemon.
So it's best not to assume too much. Even more annoying is that that wild list of E3 games/demos for the DS may not appear in full at retail for years, if at all.
One of my game mags had a life-size picture of the PSP in it, driving home just how great that screen is. Unfortunately, Sony has three big problems with the PSP right now: no killer games shown, a nasty price point, and a confusing and hateful attitude toward battery life.
By the way, Nintendo's new "freeboy" TV ad campaign is totally fucking amazing. When Rhonda saw it, she said "Now I know how you see the world." |
