My overall impressions of E3

This year’s E3 has been like no other. The downsizing and shift of focus from showy booths to streamlined information has taken this expo to a whole new level. There are those out there who have look at this change negatively and labeled E3 as “not the same”. Those people are right – E3 is not the same anymore. E3 is now better than ever because for once the only thing that people have to judge these companies by is information. There won’t be anymore Booth babe nonsense or worrying about having playable demos that cost time and money that could have been spent on production. There’s only room for the good stuff that we all wait for every year.

The three major console presentations were covered here at KeenandGraev.com and we brought you our opinions on them as individual presentations. We took a hard look at each individual presentation and the information brought forth to the gaming community and we gave our opinions on if we liked or disliked what we heard and saw. Now it is time for me to judge them against each other. Who had the best presentation and speaker? Which console will win 2007? All three presentations were, as always, interesting. However, there was one that stood out. I felt Nintendo’s presentation by Mr “Happy” Reggie was the best and for that matter Reggie was the best speaker of the year. This guy knows his stuff and he knows how to push a product right into the homes of millions. Nintendo’s greatest asset is not their DS portal gaming system – it’s Reggie. My reasons for giving Nintendo this recognition is directly related to the quality of announcements, games, and direction they are taking their console. The Wii is receiving blockbuster games this financial year and one of them is going to stand out the most. Mario Kart Wii is going to bring the Wii for the first time into the Online scene.

There are quite a few games I am looking forward to now that E3 announcements are done. Mario Kart, Super Mario Galaxy, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Assassin’s Creed, and Spore are just a handful of games spread across all platforms of gaming. This E3 has given me more to look forward to than any previous E3 ever. And why is that? I truly feel it is directly related to this shift of focus that everyone is saying “hurt E3”. Can you truly look at the list of games announced or highlighted and say that we haven’t walked away with more quality information than ever before?

Given what we now know at the close of E3 and looking back on our impressions of the various presentations and announcements it’s time to declare who I feel will be the victor of 2007/early 2008. Xbox360 has and will remain the top console this year. The sheer number of games coming out and the fact that it’s been out a year before the others to build it’s library combined with the amazing online play of Xbox Live gives Xbox360 and unparalleled lead. The Playstation 3 gained huge points with us though because of the announcements this year. For a long time there PS3 was way down on the list as perhaps a near flop but it is slowly gaining momentum. And the Wii has actually stayed the same for us or maybe gone up a few notches. Giving us dates was huge for the Wii and the Mario Kart announcement is perhaps the only reason we won’t drop it to 3rd. Our final opinion rests here. Xbox360 in the lead with Wii and PS3 tied for 2nd.

It’s going to be a great year and we look forward to sharing our experiences in these games with all of you.