Highlights of E3: Day One

Even though publishers and developers were breaking off ties with the ESA in droves, this year's slimmed-down E3 has so far still provided plenty of exciting and interesting demonstrations and revelations. I think it's funny that John Carmack, head of id Software, one of the first to split from the ESA (The group that puts E3 together) he still showed up, under the wing of new publisher Electronic Arts, to show off their upcoming FPS Rage. Which to me seems like telling someone their birthday is a waste of time and money but still showing up to the party. But I digress, here's what I dug:

It was a big day for Microsoft, or M$ to the disgruntled Square fanboys, as they announced that previously PS3-exclusive heavy-hitter Final Fantasy XIII will be heading for the XBox 360 as well. I'm not going to buy it and I don't know if I'll even try it, but it's both funny and frustrating to watch the hardcore PS3/Square zealots bang their cups and shake their cages, as if Square announced it wasn't coming to the PS3 at all. Any forum will no doubt provide hilarious commentary about Microsoft being the big bully trying to monopolize the industry and painting Sony as the "little guy" being kicked around. Sony is not the little guy; There are no little guys in this fight. It would be more accurate to describe Sony as arrogant and lazy, resting on their laurels, you could see it in the earliest press releases and even those following, where they were expecting you to buy the PlayStation based on the name and promise of Blu-ray alone, even if the games weren't there, and to some degree, still aren't. It's hubris, and will probably end up being a good thing for this never-ending console war, it will actually make Sony start to act like a competitor.

Microsoft also showed off all the features of revamped Dashboard, to be included in the next major update. The major upgrades I'm looking forward to are optional game installs, which we're being promised works with all previous titles and future ones, though to make that a viable proposition to the current install base they really need to bring down their ridiculous hard drive prices (Currently the 120GB XBox 360 hard drive is $179.99), because the 20GB hard drive that I, and many others, have really wouldn't be able to fit more than two or three games, and that's if we completely get rid of demos, videos and Live Arcade titles. Microsoft also made an exclusive deal with Netflix to bring streaming movies to XBox Live, which already being a Netflix customer is something I should have read about more, but I can only hope and assume this means I'll be able to take advantage of this at no extra charge. Also they're saying the Dashboard will be tied-in with the Guide, meaning that you'll be able to switch to a different game or a video or whatever from whatever you're playing/watching without having to quit and go back to the menu, which is kind of hot. Lastly they're set to replace the regular Gamertag pictures with "Avatars," 3D representations of yourself that you create, which screams as a "me too" move to copy the Wii (Or would that be "Mii too?").

And now, the games:

• Bethesda has finally released some gameplay footage of Fallout 3, in the form of a new official trailer and a slightly lackluster demonstration video, which I'm hoping I can put down to it just being a hastily thrown together presentation.
• EA showed off the extremely impressive DICE-developed, Parkour-influenced FPS Mirror's Edge, which also comes in the form of an official trailer and demonstration video. I'm really hoping they can pull this off because it's looking like it could be something very special. They're promising that you can play through the game without firing a shot, and as someone that goes out of his way to get a melee kill, that sounds pretty awesome to me. Though I also thought you could probably play through F.E.A.R. without firing a shot, it would just be really difficult.
• Capcom took some time to show off some of the online co-op in Resident Evil 5, which is pretty much all you need to know about the game in order to secure a purchase.
• Epic was also around, showing off some of the gameplay in Gears of War 2, but that footage is secondary to the much more important announcement that the game will feature 5-player co-op. They're promising to have it out by early November, and more of you guys need to buy 360's.

That's all for now, since I'm at work all week I can't really track the goings-on of today, so expect another summary of today's events tomorrow morning.

-K.