Photos by Dennis A. Amith and Edwin Macaraeg
Hello everyone from E3!
Day one of the Electronic Entertainment Expo is over and we prepare for day 2.
For those not familiar with E3, the event is known as the place for major video game software and hardware makers to come and unveil their upcoming releases, in this case, what’s in store for 2011-2012.
On Monday, Microsoft’s press conference was seen as the company’s push for more Kinect related games and also newer capabilities for the XBOX 360.
Sony's booth for the PlayStation Vita was packed! We'll try on Wednesday!
Sony’s conference was its upcoming games but the unveil for the Sony PlayStation Vita, the dual-side touch-based portable device which goes on sale later this year for $249 (wi-fi) and $299 (3G through AT&T).
For Tuesday, it was Nintendo’s turn and they revealed their latest console, the Wii-U. Their successor to the Wii that includes a controller with a 6.2 inch screen and will be backwards compatible with the Wii.
According to Nintendo:
In single-player games:
- The new controller can display information on its screen that does not appear on the TV.
- The information and viewpoint can also change in the new controller based on the orientation of its gyroscope.
In multiplayer games:
- The player using the new controller can have a different experience than those looking at the TV. This will offer a wide variety of competitive and cooperative opportunities.
In addition to the 6.2-inch screen, the new controller also features an accelerometer and a gyroscope, a rumble feature, an inward-facing camera, a microphone and speakers. Adding these features to the Classic Controller™ button scheme – two analog Circle Pads, +Control Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L/R buttons and ZL/ZR buttons – will enable a breadth of game-play experiences while appealing to both casual and dedicated video game players.
While the lines were a bit long for the Sony line in order to see the new PlayStation Vita, we were able to go on the Konami Booth Tour to get more information on upcoming games such as “Never Dead”, “Silent Hill Downpour”, “Metal Gear Solid 3D”, “Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker” (in HD), “Glee” for the Nintendo Wii” to name a few.
We met with the producer of both “Never Dead” and “Silent Hill Downpour” which we will have a report on J!-ENT soon!
A question that we were asked quite a bit through E3 was if there was a booth that was crowded. Every booth was crowded, as everyone wanted to try out the latest games but the biggest lines that we saw were for the Activision booth and the Sony booth.
When we asked attendees of their favorite booth, it was a mixed answer but we met those who were excited because there were guests from WWE (Kelly Kelly and Alberto del Rio) and from the UFC for their respective games. And according to these fans, day 2 will be much better as their will be newer guests appearing at E3.
As for booth that surprised us the most for day one, we have to say Nexon. Nexon is a Korean company known for Maple Story but they were showcasing two games (“Vindictus Succubus”and “Dragon’s Nest”). Not only did this booth have tons of people crowded in front of their booth, they also had lines for their games and even people who wanted to take pictures with their cool cosplayer booth babes.
But why we enjoyed Nexon is that the company has their games available for free and if you like them, people will buy it. It’s a concept that has worked for the company and made them a lot of money!
We also have to say that for media, this company not only treated us with an open bar and food, they gave away some impressive swag and their producers and staff treated media quite awesome. So, thumbs up to the Nexon company and staff!
We will have our Nexon report on J!-ENT soon.
Another surprise for us was an area on the floor featuring a variety of Chinese video game companies hoping people to purchase their PC games and distribute them to the US. As a person who does like to follow video gaming from other countries, I had a chance to speak to a rep from one of the companies as she showed us various games (mostly MMO) but in a video game RPG reference, if you talk to the people at this booth and take the time to know the games they have for release, media will be rewarded with one of the coolest media swag to come from China! We will discuss more on this in a later report.
But overall, the first day of E3 was quite productive, crowded with media and industry and although some may be able to see everything on the first day, to experience everything is another matter.
We hope to get our hands on the Sony PlayStation Vita on day two and we will have more reports from E3!