Before this year`s E3 in Los Angeles I was really looking forward to the press briefings of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft because of the previously announced new interface hardware. I must admit I hyped myself a bit too much with all this Natal (aka Kinect) and PS Move stuff and perhaps that is one of the reasons why I was a bit disappointed by the news I got from the media events.
I still like the idea to interact with a console like Tom Cruise was doing in Minority Report but in the end it comes down to the games which will be available for each new system. In case of Microsoft`s Kinect I was really surprised that it seems like they cloned Nintendo`s games line-up: A sports collection, a cart racer, a nintendogs-like game and some sports activity stuff. Even the Star Wars Kinect game looks lousy: Poor graphics for a next gen console, standard interaction patterns instead of realtime tracking of the laser sword and some sort of rail-shooter movement. Ok, everything will presumably work a bit more precise than on the Wii but I think Microsoft really could have done much better with their line-up. Where are the new ideas? The only highlight for me was the dancing game which is a game that would not work on the Wii. But I doubt that this will be a system seller.
What`s up with Sony? After showing some fancy bow and sword action with the Playstation Move controllers at last E3 I was waiting for some motion-tracking games for the core gaming crowd. But it turned out that Sony had the same idea as Microsoft: Both want to expand their market with the casual gamers. Sony`s vision therefore includes a cartoonish sorcerer (Hello Harry Potter!) and some casual clash of old school game heroes. Of course, some older and some forthcoming AAA-titles will be supported by Playstation Move but none of them was presented live. It always sounded like PS Move will be a type of add-on feature but nothing the games will focus on.
So it turns out that both Microsoft and Sony are trying to follow in Nintendo`s footsteps by developing their own motion-tracking interfaces. Even though both Microsoft and Sony might have done a good job with their hardware, they failed to convice me with their games line-up. There is still hope that they both do better in the future but I do not find any reason to buy one of these at their release dates this fall.
And that`s why in my opinion Nintendo made the best impression with their media event. As awaited they presented some strong Wii IPs (Zelda, Metroid) and their next iteration of the Nintendo DS, the 3DS. The new version is able to provide 3D effects without putting glasses on and has a very solid start line-up for a new mobile console: A new Metal Gear Solid title, Resident Evil, Kid Icarus, Dead or Alive, Kingdom Hearts, Ridge Racer, Assassin`s Creed, Professor Layton and some more. Of course, Nintendo is not the only one pushing 3d gaming – Sony presented their approach which includes a tv set for 2000$+ and wearing glasses. For now, it seems like Nintendo made again the right move in terms of hardware development.
E3 2009 Wrap-Up
Montag, 08. Juni 2009The E3 is back – after a smaller show and lots of criticism in the last year, last week`s Electronic Entertainment Expo was an overwhelming success. Of course, there were tons of games but I am not going to repeat everything that you already heard on all the gaming news pages. As usual, my focus will be on the game interfaces and usability topics of E3. Here we go:
Microsoft`s “Project Natal”
Months before E3 a lot of rumors occured surrounding the news that Microsoft had a deal with 3DV, a small company located in Israel which works on 3D-cameras which will be featured in a new XBox360 addon. Well, these rumors turned out to be true as Microsoft presented the motion-sensing camera technology in their keynote last week. The system is capable of tracking not only the body movement but also the depth of the position of different body parts, enabling the software to use the whole body as an input device. I really like the idea but not being able to test it myself I am still a bit skeptical how precise the input will work and if there are any latencies due to the lack of a haptic input device. I have no doubt that all the sport and mini games will work properly BUT games with the need for very precise and direct inputs (e.g. the demoed racing game) will be a challenge for the technology in my opinion. From what I have seen I expect a similar precision the Wii controls have (what already will be a great success).
Sony`s Motion-Sensing Tech Demo
Sony showed a tech demo of their motion-sensing controller without giving it a codename. It is, in comparison to Microsoft`s camera-only approach, a combination of camera tracking and controller input. It looks like a Wii Remote with a light bulb on top, working single and double-handed. I was impressed by the very precise movement during the sword fight demo: The presenter was able to manoveur the sword under the chin of a skeleton puppet – a level of accurany the Wii certainly cannot reach – even not with the Motion Plus addon (see the video of the tech demo). According to Sony the first versions of the new nameless interface are already in the hands of third-party developers.
Another new piece of hardware is Sony`s PSP Go, the successor of the PSP 3000 which will skip the UMD drive and for this reason will focus on digital distribution. A lot of people hoped to see a second analog stick but Sony stays consistent to the older PSP models with just one of them.
Wii Motion Plus and Vitality Sensor
Nintendo had no surprising news because they are only a few days away from the launch of the Wii Motion Plus addon. This little addon can be plugged onto the Wii Remote and will provide a more precise detection of movement and alignment of the Remote. Some sad news were that several games which use the Motion Plus turn out to show no considerable improvement according to journalist reports. E.g. first reports from people playing Red Steel 2 sounded a bit disappointing so it is possible that not every developer gets the best out of it or it is no significant improvement over the old Remote.
In addition to the Wii Motion Plus, Nintendo showed also a small piece of hardware called “Vitality Sensor”. It is a small box where you can put a finger into and everyone was sure that this will add up to the sports and fitness games Nintendo is doing pretty well with.
Summary
To sum it up, it is interesting to see that all big console manufacturers now have their own motion-sensing input devices (which is no big surprise after the success of the Wii and its new control scheme). In the end, the games make the difference and both Microsoft and Sony have to prove that they are able to create great games with their new technologies.
Tags:2009, e3, electronic entertainment expo, game interface, game usability, microsoft, motion control, motion-sensing, nintendo, project natal, sony, wii motion plus, wii vitality sensor
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