So I’m back from E3 for the ninth year (I think…I’ve been going each year since Atlanta).
Again, I find myself disappointed. Maybe I’m too old or there’s been some sort of sea change in me but I find most of the stuff there dull and uninteresting. Half the time I wanted to smack the guys I was interviewing for being boring and unoriginal.
But anyway, my team and I literally visited every company there (and a few that didn’t have booths and just wanted to make the scene. So if you have any questions I’ll be glad to answer them. Maybe it’ll provide some game therapy for me as well.
I admit…based on what I saw of it I think it’ll be a hit. I think they’ve put a lot of thought into it and if they don’t screw up the coding and leave it buggy I think it’ll give them a kick.
Though if you left out of boredom or something I think eventually this will bore you as well.
Do you think the Play Station 3 has any chance at the stated price. How does game development for it look?
I’ve noticed that Final Fantasy IX is on the XBOX 360. Do you think Square might release more software for the XBOX 360 in the future, or are they still firmly in the Playstation camp?
PS3 - The only people I talked to who thought the price point of the PS3 was reasonable were people with a solid financial motivation to think so. All others were scratching their heads and saying ‘Good luck’. And the MicroSoft people were practically giggling.
I saw it in action and it looked nice. But the side by side I saw with a 360 didn’t make it look all that different. Maybe at some point the graphics get so good that discerning the difference is difficult.
Square: That’s an interesting question, actually. With former Square boss Sakaguchi developing games for the 360 I think there might be some room for movement there. That said the times I’ve met with Square they haven’t said much about anything other than what would make them the most dough.
I got the private demo and it looked cool. If it will catch on is an entirely different question.
I’ll say this: Spore was one of the high points in my trip. At least there’s someone trying to develop new ideas and such. Will Wright knows what he wants to accomplish and it’s not developing one more FPS.
OK, I admit, the highest point was being able to demo LEGO: Star Wars II. And getting to rummage around in the huge bin of dismembered lego guys they had for people to play with in the LucasArts room.
The lines were insane. One of my colleagues got in after only an hour, but that was because he was there on an “Exhibitor” badge which meant he could start queuing up before the doors opened in the morning.