Staying Up for E3 Press Conferences

During the earlier half of last week, this year's E3 was being held in the USA. When I heard that they were going to have Live streams of the various company press conferences, I decided to stay up till the ungodly hours of the morning just so that I can catch them first hand. Of course, this meant that I would be a zombie the next day I went to work but it was still (kinda) worth it.

GameSpot was one of the sites offering Live Stream for the press conferences and the videos are still available for watching.


Microsoft (Monday Night, 1:00 am - 3:00 am)


Microsoft cut to the chase by showcasing their games and demos (instead of boring the audience with sales pitch, sales figures, powerpoints, etc).

Most notable titles to me:
- Modern Warefare 2: CoD4 multiplayer all over again? Sign me up.
- Halo 3 ODST: Droppinng in September 2009!
- Halo Reach: Fall 2010. I'm gonna get my hands on the Fall of Reach novel.

Unfortunately, I went to sleep at 2:30 am and missed out the last 30 minutes where the really fun stuff happened. I caught them all later on video.
- Hideo Kojima came out to reveal Metal Gear Solid Rising. I am sure the audience was just as shocked.
- Felicia Day (from The Guild) came to reveal that Facebook and Twitter will be coming to Xbox Live in fall 2009.
- Project Natal was revealed; Microsoft's motion sensor technology. It's nice and all but seems to be aimed at casuals.


Nintendo (Tuesday night, 12 midnight - 1:30 am)


I was actually falling asleep during Nintendo's press conference. I felt as though I was back in school sitting through a boring lecture. Way too much talking, presentation slides, sales figures, yadda yadda.

Everyone agreed that it sucks bad. GameTrailers slammed it for wasting 58 minutes, then finally showing 12 minutes of goodness at the end. This Penny Arcade strip pretty much sums up the entire Nintendo conference. Team Ninja + Metroid = Win.


Sony (Tuesday night, 2:00 am - 4:00 am)


Sony's press conference dragged a little at the beginning with PS2/PSP related stuff. But once they got on track and started showing PS3 games, it was great. The press conference had a lot of jaw-dropping moments. The PS3 has possibly the best line-up of exclusive games coming up.

Most notable to me:

Assassin's Creed 2 (multiplatform) - Game looks amazing. I loved it when the audience was like "Whoah!" at the part where Ezio knifed two enemies in the face at the same time.

Uncharted 2 Among Thieves - Game looks stunning.

MAG - 256-player FPS. Never thought it would work out but there they were, demo'ing it on stage.

Final Fantasy - After rolling some footage of the new Final Fantasy XIII, Sony suddenly announced that Square will be bringing Final Fantasy XVI (14) to the PS3 as well. At that moment, the audience went completely silent. I, too, sat there dumbfounded. Was this Sony's killer app? 13 was not out yet and they were talking about 14 already? But then the game footage rolled and the title flashed: FFXIV Online. Haha.

Do I even have to mention God of War 3?

Sony also brought out their motion sensor technology. Looks like everyone is out to get Nintendo. But I still think it's aimed at casuals, so until I see any actual games for it, it's just a gimmick to me.

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The E3 press conferences were all great (except for Nintedo's). Looks like there is another great year of gaming ahead for everyone.