# E3 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 4, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984 "2012-06-04T01:17:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/21 "2012-06-06T19:12:42Z")
I’m at E3 all week, with a lot of my coworkers. Biggest surprise: Neverwinter. It’s a blast- very pretty, with very fun combat. Biggest disappointment: Star Trek. Bad animation, and really just felt like an advertisement for the next movie. Good t-shirt, though. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/22 "2012-06-06T19:33:18Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > I think Nintendo’s in trouble. Casual gamers aren’t going to throw down the cash like they did for Wii, and the core Nintendo audience is jilted. At least I am. They better come up with some killer games and quick. People don’t get the Wii U like they did the Wii. > > As for me, I guess I’m waiting a 1 1/2 to 2 years before I invest in another game system. Either that or buy a 360 or PS3. I’ve given up trying to predict how these things will go. I remember people being dismissive of the Wii prior to its release, and with reasonable arguments. It seems unlikely that the Wii U will match the Wii’s success, but that’s a pretty high bar. I’m sure I’ll end up getting a Wii U at some point; I’m a sucker for the main Mario and Zelda games. But then again I have a backlog of Wii games to play through, even with its supposedly barren library, so I don’t know if I’m representative of anything. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/23 "2012-06-06T20:08:29Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > They haven’t maxed it out yet. > > Personally, I’m pretty amped up about Halo 4, but that shouldn’t be a surprise coming from me. Splinter Cell looked very good, but a bit like an interactive movie. After that, I stopped paying as much attention, and it sounded like I didn’t miss much more from Microsoft. Just gimme Halo, Borderlands, and Minecraft, and I’ll be fine. Pray tell, in what way have they not “maxed it out” yet, exactly? I found it hilarious that several games shown in the MS/Sony conferences were being shown demoed on PC’s. I guess they figured out no one wants to look at low graphics settings at 720p chugging along at 25-30 FPS on those giant TV sets they had out. Also loved it when the devs of the most graphically impressive games got interviewed by game journalists, who asked if the games were running on “next gen hardware”, and the inevitable answer came back - actually no, just on PC. Also loved that the top candidates for best game fo the show include at least on PC exclusive. I did like what I saw of the Last of us, and Halo 4 is looking sweet… But would I pick up a console for it? Damn you MS! ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/24 "2012-06-06T20:15:29Z")
Fairly good post in favor of the PS3, **bouv** , but there is the drawback that it’s, well, Sony. The guys who left customer CC info in plain text where it could be easily stolen. Twice. I wouldn’t feel comfortable even giving them my _name_, much less anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/25 "2012-06-06T20:19:48Z")
Anyone else think Microsoft’s $99 xbox 360 witha plan (a la cell phones), is the future of consoles? I’m thinking it’s the only way they can afford to get some decent hardware in there while still keeping the price low enough to move lots of units. Not sure how they will police this though… maybe these units need to be always online for gaming? ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/26 "2012-06-06T20:23:04Z")
What do they need to police? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/27 "2012-06-06T20:25:24Z")
> [@borschevsky](#): > > What do they need to police? Well, what if you give up your membership? What’s to stop you from buying games and playign them on your $99 nextbox with only 4 months of service payed? ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/28 "2012-06-06T20:30:41Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Well, what if you give up your membership? What’s to stop you from buying games and playign them on your $99 nextbox with only 4 months of service payed? Then they charge you the couple hundred bucks as specified in the contract you signed. Same as if you tried to drop a cell contract. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/29 "2012-06-06T20:40:29Z")
> [@borschevsky](#): > > Then they charge you the couple hundred bucks as specified in the contract you signed. Same as if you tried to drop a cell contract. Duh, you’re right. Not sure why that wasn’t clicking in my head. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/30 "2012-06-06T22:34:56Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > That’s not really a bad option. If you’re only going one, PS3 is the way to go. For one, you can play online for free (360 requires X-Box Live Gold, $50 a year, to play online.) PS3 also has free\* Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Hopefully they’ll get Hulu soon. Again, with the 360, you have to have the Gold account to be able to use these. I do believe Hulu is already on PS3. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/31 "2012-06-07T03:39:17Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I’m at E3 all week, with a lot of my coworkers. Biggest surprise: Neverwinter. It’s a blast- very pretty, with very fun combat. Biggest disappointment: Star Trek. Bad animation, and really just felt like an advertisement for the next movie. Good t-shirt, though. Tell me about neverwinter! I was very disappointed when I heard there would be no nwn 3. So what did you like about it? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/32 "2012-06-07T14:56:57Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Pray tell, in what way have they not “maxed it out” yet, exactly? > > I found it hilarious that several games shown in the MS/Sony conferences were being shown demoed on PC’s. > > I guess they figured out no one wants to look at low graphics settings at 720p chugging along at 25-30 FPS on those giant TV sets they had out. > > Also loved it when the devs of the most graphically impressive games got interviewed by game journalists, who asked if the games were running on “next gen hardware”, and the inevitable answer came back - actually no, just on PC. > > Also loved that the top candidates for best game fo the show include at least on PC exclusive. > > I did like what I saw of the Last of us, and Halo 4 is looking sweet… But would I pick up a console for it? Damn you MS! Games are looking prettier yet. There’s been room for improvement, clearly. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/33 "2012-06-07T15:09:04Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Games are looking prettier yet. There’s been room for improvement, clearly. But the “improvement” usually comes at the price of narrower and narrower corridor shooters. Emptier and emptier locales. Less and less interactivity with the world. There is always a give and take. Some game swill opt for slightly better lighting… at the expense of a ton of other things. Some will include better destruction… at the expense of lighting, etc, etc. At this point it’s about moving resources around, not about getting more out fo the hardware. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/34 "2012-06-07T15:28:40Z")
If I got a PC for gameing now, will it keep up with next gen later on? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/35 "2012-06-07T19:18:23Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > If I got a PC for gameing now, will it keep up with next gen later on? We don’t know the specs of next gen consoles, but in all likelihood yes. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/36 "2012-06-07T22:43:24Z")
“Next gen” consoles if they come out in 2 years are likely to be about what a low to mid end PCs do now if the trends hold up. I haven’t seen much E3 coverage at the few sites I read and I try to avoid kotaku and other such places. Any sites for good coverage? The only game I’ve really read about is Arma 3 because the graphics are mind boggling and I’m hoping they finally managed to get around to polishing their engine so the interface isn’t such a struggle. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/37 "2012-06-07T22:57:57Z")
I’m quite ignorant about this whole thing, not having any of the current gen. systems, so beware my foolish question. The Wii is less strong graphics-wise than the PS3 and 360. In fact, I’m not sure how much more powerful it is than the PS2(some, a lot??). Anyway, the Wii U will be…I assume stronger than the PS3 and 360. However, will it be equally strong to the PS4 and Xbox 3? Or is going to come out early, but be weaker like this generation? Or is it exactly the same strength as the PS3? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/38 "2012-06-07T23:01:53Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m quite ignorant about this whole thing, not having any of the current gen. systems, so beware my foolish question. > > The Wii is less strong graphics-wise than the PS3 and 360. In fact, I’m not sure how much more powerful it is than the PS2(some, a lot??). Anyway, the Wii U will be…I assume stronger than the PS3 and 360. However, will it be equally strong to the PS4 and Xbox 3? Or is going to come out early, but be weaker like this generation? Or is it exactly the same strength as the PS3? The Gamecube was **slightly** stronger than the PS2, and the Wii is about as strong as two Gamecubes duct taped together. I’m guessing that the Wii U will be quite a bit weaker than the 360-2/PS4, if for no reason other than they’re going to wait to see how strong the Wii U is and then make their systems more powerful just as a selling point. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/39 "2012-06-07T23:11:19Z")
I spent a lot of time in the Nintendo booth today. My favorite title was Project P-100 which is a cute little Pikmin-like superhero game where you lead a gang of several dozen superheros around. As for the Wii U itself … I’m not a fan. With a lot of the games that I tried I found the use of the second screen more frustrating than helpful. If a game is fun and exciting, I don’t WANT to look away from the main screen. About the only time the touch pad felt like a fun addition was for asymmetrical multiplayer games where one player was supposed to keep his actions secret from everyone else. That’s an interesting new way to play, but I don’t think it justifies designing an entire system around. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984/40 "2012-06-07T23:29:47Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > The Gamecube was **slightly** stronger than the PS2, and the Wii is about as strong as two Gamecubes duct taped together. > > I’m guessing that the Wii U will be quite a bit weaker than the 360-2/PS4, if for no reason other than they’re going to wait to see how strong the Wii U is and then make their systems more powerful just as a selling point. Almost certainly will be the case. Modern PC’s have grown to be 6 to 9 times more powerful than current gen consoles. The reason why next gen consoles probably won’t be able to match them are two-fold. - Cost. I don’t think either Sony or MS is prepared to sell their console at a huge loss yet again. MS JUST dug themselves out of that hole. - TDP and form factor. Although modern GPU’s actually use less power and therefore give off less heat than last (PC) generation chips, these things still run quite hot. And the small form factor of consoles (and limited wattage) will require a compromise in this department. I think the best they can get is something like a high end laptop GPU equivalent - which is about the equivalent of a mid-range desktop GPU. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/e3-2012/623984.md?page=3)